Star Wars Corellia2
by gdedwards11
Summary: The story of Ian Bartholomew and his adventures as a Dr. of Ship building, design, computers, electronics, droids and droid technology, from the planet of Corellia


Star Wars Written by Geoffrey D. Edwards

 **Corellia**

One of the largest space ship manufacturers in all of the known galaxy. The planet name, **Corellia**.  
Home of the great **Corellian ship yards**. Many of the ships that are built there are so big that the  
y have to be built in space. As opposed to vehicles for personnel transport, there are elevators stret  
ching up to the massive space manufacturing facilities. The Corellian ship yards, like most ship yard  
s have parts of old ship projects strewn about the plant, planet wide. Junk has collected over the ye  
ars, much of it, covered with soot, rust and dirt from wind and rain, some covered by vegetation of  
which has been there since the beginning. Most of the junk has been lying there for so long that it  
has all taken on much the same color. Kept for possible parts needs in the future, the problem, mos  
t of it or all of it, too old or outdated to use anymore even for parts. When he was a boy, **Ian Barth  
olomew** was just a gofer of sorts. Running around for all the great ship builders and engineers gett  
ing the things they needed, some of whom didn't even speak the human language. Ian was forced  
to learn their languages as best he could partially in order to accommodate them, partially to know  
when they were talking about him behind his back. A parts man, often not knowing what the part  
that was ordered was for. Never knowing if that part might have some adverse effect on his body o  
r worse. One time a part was ordered that contained a very highly penetrable radio-active substanc  
e in order to make it work. Ian was exposed and was shortly taken ill and sent to one of the compa  
ny infirmaries for medical assistance. Fortunately for Ian, the Corellian medical higher ups discovere  
d a cure for radio-active poisoning. Unfortunately, a device had to be surgically implanted in his neck  
to absorb the poison from his system, one white blood cell at a time and the device was very uncom  
fortable. It got in the way when he did certain things, made certain body movements difficult. It wa  
s bad enough that he had to ask his supervisor to excuse him from performing tasks that involved t  
hose particular body movements. The officials at the Corellian Ship Yards were not happy. Ian felt si  
ck for about one year before the device was said to have completed its task by doctors. Then the de  
vice had to be surgically removed. Ian felt sick for about another year after but was expected to res  
ume performing his normal duties at that time with any disregard for his illness. When he brought  
it to the attention of his doctors, they couldn't explain Ian's reaction. Years later, after Ian learned  
more about radio-activity he believed that his body still contained some of the radio-active poison. T  
he device removed enough to make the poison non-fatal but his body was expected to eliminate th  
e rest. Ian believed that if he weren't a Nether, the device would have been placed so that it wasn't  
so uncomfortable and left in longer to absorb more of the radio-active poison. The entire planet was  
dedicated to building space ships, good space ships. There were several divisions, large ships, medica  
l frigates, fighter ships, military transports, large and small, space stations and the more often com  
mon ships that people bought. They were expensive too. They all bore the same Corellian brand na  
me. They built some of the fastest, most advanced and largest ships in space, in the galaxy. They e  
ven had a division dedicated to building custom ships, if they weren't too expensive. Their motto wa  
s " _No questions asked_ " In other words, they would ask you what you wanted built but they never a  
sked why. There were other ship builders in the Galaxy and they even built large or fast ships but n  
one the likes of the Corellian's. Most of the ship builders and engineers or designers went to the infa  
mous Academy, complements of the Corellian government and at the expense of the tax payers. Ia  
n Bartholomew was too young at first. He got a job on Corellia as part of an orphan program set up  
through the Human Recourses department on his home planet of Alderaan. They had made arrang  
ements with different companies on different planets to employ and house orphans, or escaped sla  
ves from slave colonies. Ian, in spite of his family being killed when he was a baby, rejected the not  
ion that he would be adopted by the Corellians as a laborer and not by some family and even thoug  
h the operators of the adoption facility where he was sent were careless and sometimes quite evil.  
Ian Bartholomew was different, by the time he was about six years old, as he was young but bright  
and inquisitive. He seemed to understand what was being told to him, even if it was very scientific  
in explanation and sometimes he didn't. But most of the time, based on what he had learned up t  
o that point, he understood what was asked of him and could be counted on to bring the correct pa  
rt or parts. His superiors were often harsh if he brought the wrong part. Some of the designers and  
engineers were all too eager to report his failures. He lived with one of the Corellian engineers mad  
e management and a government official in his older years by the government of Corellia. On Corel  
lia the _government was management_. **Toliman Prel-fee)** was kind to Ian and defended him whe  
n he could. There were times when Ian, in his older days, unknown to himself, found himself in viol  
ation of some government rule or law. He would be taken in by the Corellian authorities to a holdin  
g facility and Toliman was called. Once he was even processed and almost hauled away to prison. To  
liman was again, older, was married, very Corellian but, not the usual, shared his home openly. Toli  
man would dash insistently into the authorities office and demand, as a government official, that I  
an be released. Sometimes there was an argument, to which Toliman would, in all his brilliants, eas  
ily defend and sometimes there wasn't. For instants, one time Ian was hauled in based on parts th  
at he had in his vehicle that were picked up on a sensor. The parts were ordered by the engineers w  
ho knew that the parts were listed as "Top-Secret" and that Ian, at his own expense, would surely  
come up on someone's sensors and be hauled in. When Ian was still somewhat younger, he was u  
nable to obtain a "Top-Secret" clearance and just didn't know any better. Toliman would often argu  
e the point based on the fact that he knew, based on what he'd learned when he worked directly w  
ith the engineers, what their tricks were. Toliman had occasion to have participated in the joke from  
time to time himself in earlier years. There were lots of species from other planets working there, m  
any of which had homes there. But you could only be a government official and have lavish accomm  
odations on the whole, if you were Corellian born and had been to the Academy, as per their law. Bu  
t if you were an Academy educated Corellian you could pretty much get what you wanted, within re  
ason. The government, management was very communist in nature. They decided what you were  
going to be once you reached adulthood and where you would live and work even if you were born t  
here. If a person took in an orphan from another planet, orphans were known as Nethers, the perso  
n taking them in would most likely be subjected to the treatment of orphans and have to deal with t  
he emotions that came with it. Nethers were frowned upon by many and often picked on or treated  
badly. Considered low-lives by most, Nethers were, when older, assigned less than accommodating o  
r comfortable housing if allowed to stay on Corellia at all. Toliman was forced by the government to take Ian in but Toliman actually had an affinity for _**Nethers**_ **.** He, unlike most Corellian's, felt sorry for them, often wondering what it must be like for someone with no family or to have someone to be close to, a mother and father. He took Ian in gladly, Ian was only two months old when Toliman and his wife **Aladfar (Alad-far)** took him in. They raised Ian like he was their own. When Ian was four the Corellian government put him to work. Toliman quickly realized Ian's ability to learn and began teaching him at a very young age about ship design. Toliman was impressed with Ian's obvious advanced intelligence and dexterous abilities when putting electronic or mechanical things together that normally required many years of training. At five, Ian was able to solder components together, at will, to become part of one of Toliman's designs even when Toliman wasn't sure himself. Toliman continued to teach Ian as long as he continued to show interest in what was being taught. Toliman and Aladfar grew to love Ian so much that they eventually adopted him into their family, much to the reproach of the Corellian government. Adoption from the government into a private family was difficult and cost a lot of capital. Aladfar, Toliman's wife, died from a disease known as Merga when she was Forty, **Merga** was basically fluid around the heart, on Corellia it was considered a cancer. And as one might imagine, on Corellia there were plenty of cancer types to go around, there were few if any safety regulations to prevent inhalation of a lot of the dust types that were released into the air as a result of mass production. Infection was rampant and often turned into cancer. There was no knowledge of infections or infection control on Corellia. People were just thought to be "taken ill." Toliman was deeply in love with Aladfar and her death was the beginning of his down-fall.

When Ian was fifteen, Toliman had to pull his Nether aside and explain that he, Ian, would need to find a more profound job, something that paid a wage in order to survive. Toliman was too old to take care of him anymore. Corellian's lived a little longer than Humans. Toliman was Seventy-Four. Toliman was considered to be a great engineer and designer and taught Ian everything he knew even though teaching Nethers anything was strictly forbidden. Nethers were allowed to learn by osmosis which Ian did a lot but not allowed to be trained by anyone. Toliman even taught Ian how to read, write and speak Corellian. That in and of itself was punishable by life in prison so it was all kept very hush-hush by this family and others who knew. Toliman had many friends, friends he could count on, friends that were impressed by and liked Ian as much as Toliman. Ian learned from Aladfar to be kind even when people didn't deserve it. He would go from one ship community on Corellia to another once he was old enough to fly a transport. Often, requests for parts came from facilities in space. Having his own ship as opposed to using the elevators, made traveling a distance on the surface easier but he continued to do the same low-life sort of jobs. The transport he flew was akin to a Caravan and not very well maintained when the government assigned it to him. Ian was able to update the transport himself with his vast knowledge but kept the ship looking un-maintained for maintaining a certain appearance sake. Eventually the harassment and chiding would stop as Ian became one of the only curriers that could be counted on. Often other curriers would have to ask Ian what was on the requisition. The Corellian children were sent to schools to learn to read, write and what they were good at was then further taught as an enhanced subject, at the request of the government. And if they weren't good at much, they still ended up working for the Corellian ship manufacturers and worked as parts distributors and messengers like Ian but under better treatment and were given better equipment to use to do their jobs and better accommodations to live in. The Corellian government, as was usual with communist run agencies, ran the planet with an iron fist. They usually didn't have a problem but none-the-less didn't like dissidents. Dissidents were usually found out and hauled off to prison or a place of captivity and were often not heard from again. Sometimes people, in spite of their emphatic and honest denial of such things, were labeled as dissidents and hauled off never to be seen again. The leadership of the Corellian government seemed, as is often the case, paranoid. The supreme leader, a dictator by the name of **Carth Dettun** was a typical ruler in this kind of government and once more held on to the position for security, lavish accommodations and to have a position of public admonishment. No telling what made officials of the planet decide that someone was against the government. Other planets around Corellia and the galaxy, new this and were either similar in nature and governmental style or just accepted this type of governing and ignored it. There were a few citizens of Corellia or other planets that investigated such behavior but were often quelled, imprisoned or were forced to become mercenaries or bounty hunters hiding their identities behind a literal mask.

Many of the newer ship builders treated Ian pretty badly at first but quickly began to realize that Ian was no slouch and based on other engineers reaction to him, engineers that had been there for awhile. Ian was very good at what he did and he seemed to learn or understand quickly gaining some of their respect. Toliman, in spite of his advanced age, still often came to Ian's defense in these situations. Toliman was Ninety when he died. He should have lived longer but there was no vaccination against _Cerofl (Cero-full), a disease of the skin_. A Vaccine would have solved the problem but the Corellian medical community was not very good at creating vaccinations and really just not aware of what a vaccination was or they often did not recognize the need. The government took Toliman's death hard. It meant that one of their advanced ship designers was gone and caused an anticipated loss to Corellian capital. Upon Toliman's death and in spite of his praise of Ian, the government determined that Ian was too old to be taken in by another Corellian family and was given one week to get off the planet. The Corellian government, being somewhat jaded and corrupt, expected to be able to bring Ian in on charges that he'd outstayed his time but ended up amazed at the brilliant way he put all his affairs in order and left the planet in only two days. Ian left the planet un-detected, fellow distributors were also hampered by Ian's absents and productivity was never the same. Ian, Twenty-two by then, used his brilliant research abilities to find a home on a planet near Corellia called _**Devaron**_ a forest planet with few inhabitants. The Corellian government eventually discovered where Ian was but couldn't do anything about it. Deveron's only proof of another existence at one time was ancient and abandoned Jedi Temple. Devaron had breathable air but was extremely thick with forest like vegetation. Very tropical in nature which forced its inhabitants to build homes that were, tropic resistant as the moist atmosphere would creep in and destroy much of the living arrangements and mechanical equipment, transports and such. Most of the inhabitants were political outcasts from other planets and unable to find employment on their home planets because of their political affiliations. Some, more often than not, were in hiding. The rest of the inhabitants were just outcasts because of their apparent unruliness or lack of interest in what was going on around them. A family by the name of **Stalrif (Stall-Riff)** took Ian in with the understanding that he would attend the Academy as soon as he could get accepted. And they became aware of his abilities when he quickly fixed the family transport actually making it better than when they purchased it. The Academy was on Coruscant, everyone who was anyone went to the Academy when they were old enough and then of course, also dependent on their skills. There were those who couldn't get in or those who just didn't want to but because of the Empires involvement in so many of the planetary issues. Those that didn't want to go to the Academy were often unable to find adequate employment and suffered often from starvation and lack of living arrangements. The Stalrif's were originally from the planet of Dantooine. Dantooine had the potential to be a civilized planet but its government, also run by greedy politicians, posed a very serious set of rules and laws that made everyone angry. It also seemed to think the Empire was what was best for the ruling system there. One of the rules was that if a family had a child, the first born was to stay with the family but the second born was to become the property of the government, raised by the family but to government standards. The second born child would eventually be indoctrinated into the military at a surprisingly young age and rumor was that if the child didn't have what the government needed, the child would be sent to the front lines with a short life expectancy, to be sacrificed, apparently for the good of the planet. The Stalrif's actively opposed the government's laws, rules and choice to let the Empire in. They were informed by a secret rebel agency, that the government had sanctioned them for removal of the worse kind. The family was able to leave with the assistance of the secret Rebel force but eventually returned once they had heard that the government was reduced to much like a third world country.

Devaron was once, many hundreds of years ago, occupied by the first of the Jedi knights and was a headquarters or an outpost for the Jedi to be closer to a Sith held planet. The Jedi force was rumored to have had some success against the Sith presents bringing many of the Sith in that space sector to a minimal population. The Temple was also rumored to have been the starting point of the current Galactic Republic. The Temple was eventually found by the Sith, it was attacked on several occasions and eventually fell to the Sith who captured, brutally tortured and killed most of the Jedi stationed there. The Sith had no need of it when it was finally overtaken and it was eventually abandoned by both the Jedi and the Sith. Teel, the father and husband, grew up on Dantooine and was raised by hunters, which at the time was fairly common on that planet. The hunters were violent, aggressive people and Teel became hardened by his hunter family. Teel's family decided that he needed to be educated rather than grow up a hunter as his father, aunts and uncles had, so that he might one day advance to a more civilized way of life. Teel was against this but was eventually sent to take exams. On the way his path was detoured by the Trade Federation which was a prominent evil force in the Galaxy at that time. Instead of going to the Academy, Teel ended up fighting with a resistance, a Resistance that spared him from certain life in prison in a trade Federation prison camp. A group of separatists against the Trade Federation which hardened him even more, took him in. When the separatist group decided to join the Trade Federation rather than battle it, Teel and a few others left, Teel returning to his home on Dantooine. His family was old and unable to hunt for themselves so Teel took up the challenge providing for them in their time of need. While he was there, for enjoyment, he would attend a bar of sorts complete with dancing girls. He became well known at the bar as a great fist fighter and not to be messed with, which was just fine with him, he really didn't want to be bothered. Of course when one acquires a reputation for such a thing there are those who had to challenge. Eventually one of the dancing girls became his wife Aladfar who had a well rounded up bringing but whose parents were also killed when she was younger so she danced only to support herself, not to offer herself for capital like some of the other dancing girls. When Teel was married but not very long, the Dantooine government, now composed of an entirely new regime of personnel, began implementing their own extraneous laws and rules which were worse than before. Teel rebelled and you know the rest of the story. Teel and his wife, who was pregnant with their first, were threatened by the new government. The first time the government attacked, Teel was able to fend them off. But he knew they would be back in force, he took his family and left. Teel didn't have a means of transport himself and had to find one. He attempted to use common commercialized services at first but they repeatedly told him they could not allow him and his wife on board. They said it was because she was pregnant but he knew that was bullshit. He knew it was because of the government so he began to look for other ways off the planet. Unfortunately most of the only ones that would take him asked a high price and were less than trustworthy. He was forced to enter places where his life was surely in danger. He ended up killing a few people in such facilities as he had become quite good with a blaster, before finally earning the respect of an older man by the name of **Dodge Kilvaari**. Dodge wasn't always old and wasn't always alone. Dodge has a story of his own but that's for another day. Teel really didn't trust him either but the price was right and time was growing short. Teel was able to pay even though it took every last ounce of capital he had. The old man knew how relentless the government and others could be. That and he knew of a place where Teel and his family could go if they needed to hide. The old man had an old ship, it was barely space worthy but that's how Teel ended up on Deveron. Teel had hoped the old man could help him further but the man was gone before Teel could ask him, the Stalrif's were on their own.

There were entrance exams at the Academy and one was required to pass them although no standards were ever disseminated. No one knew exactly what would be on the tests. The exams were given in most languages and were very difficult. One could pass the exams at different levels. The ones who scored low but high enough to pass were taught a trade. Laser welding, metal working, laboring for different entities, mechanics of sorts if the mechanics wasn't too complex. Freighter ship handlers, freight handlers at other locations, cement handlers, space garbage handlers, etc. Those who passed average were trained as technicians in any number of fields and such. Lab assistants, capital processors, dispatchers, computer operators, higher level mechanics, etc. Those who passed pretty well were trained as teachers, law enforcement, military, military officers, all by Old Republic Standards or by the individual planets standards. And those who passed with high honors were trained as Doctors, Engineer/Designers of sorts or Jedi if the Force was with them, governmental officials and managers for many civilizations, or ship pilots, either fighter ships or large Corellian freighter vessels. A card shark by the name of **Lando Calrissian** came to the Corellian's for a custom Space Race ship but it was even too difficult for the greatest of Corellian Designers to build, although they tried. He was particular, educated and well to do. He would test prototypes but they were never to Lando's satisfaction. Another commissioning was a space-station and its design was attempted by the Corellian's but was never large enough or efficient enough to the satisfaction of its idealists/buyers. It was commissioned by an unknown person. That person's name was never discovered though it was made known or at least rumored that he was from the Empire, never proven. Ian took the exams for entrance into the Academy and passed in an average class but excelled in ship design, electronics, droid design and computers. Occasionally the heads of the Academy would poll the governments of other planets to extend more capital when someone from that planet maybe scored average on the exam but scored high in specific areas. Those people would be placed in fields that were appropriate to their talents. Ian would be trained in ship design and engineering, electronics, droid design and computers. He would eventually be sent back to Corellia upon graduating, as a Dr. of Engineering for them. In his first year at the Academy he attended classes but was easily corrupted by those who thought their time at the Academy was best spent partying. He would get drunk, get into fights, lose often and find himself in the Dean's office defending himself, often when he really wasn't at fault. Ian almost flunked out of his first year. While at home with his temporary family on Devaron for a break between grade levels, his father figure, **Teel Stalrif** sat him down and explained the finer points of taking the Academy seriously and also that if he wasn't going to honor his agreement with the Stalrif's about the Academy, that he would have to find another place to live. Ian was no fool, he listened to Teel and took his advice to heart. Upon returning to the Academy in his second year, his old friends, many of different species, tried to encourage him to waste precious time partying the year away as usual. When Ian refused, they ostracized him. He tried to explain his reasoning but they wouldn't listen.

"Who cares?"

Over time, many of his so-called old friends would see him and tease him. Sometimes to the point of physical violence where he was again, often on the losing end. Ian made it through his second year in spite of the opposition by his old friends and his grades improved immensely. The leadership at the Academy was very impressed and reinstated all of his privileges as well as a few others. Free meals, lower tuition and such. They looked forward to his returning for his third year, he became the focus of many's attention. They had even thought of grooming him for leadership at the Academy until they later discovered that his true love was for that which he excelled at not education. Ian returned his third year, was put on the student council and publically recognized for his accomplishments and designs in many of his science classes. He found himself competing against some guy by the name of Raymus Antilles. Not well known at the time but a great student and pilot in training. Ian had designed newer ships and droids. Introducing the possibility of idiosyncratic behavior, an advancement to the computer brains of droids. This, of course, forced the development of better droid designs including the design of the first Astromech type droid. The droid was in design only, at that point but too expensive for the Academy to build. The idea or design was purchased by the Techno Union planet which added a lot of capital to the Academy's bottom line to which they were very pleased. This didn't hurt Ian's position with the Academy either. Ian eventually wrote several textbooks that the Academy adopted as part of their study program for electronics, ship, computer and droid design. He wrote a book telling of his time at Corellia as a "parts distribution technician". That particular book gained popularity because of his famous name but was not very good and eventually lost peoples interest by word of mouth. One of his fellow students, a rather large _Noghri_

by the name of **Silus Nidor** took an interest in Ian when he, Silus, was having difficulty passing a computer class based on droid memories. Ian helped Silus get caught up to the point where Silus could finally finish on his own. Silus, being a warrior from Tatooine, began his training as a fighter wrestling younger Dune Lizards.

Almost eaten several times but rescued by his father, Silus, who seemed to be hiding his ferocity at the time, came out of his shell when he and some friends thought it would be fun to visit Honoghr. Upon entering an imbibing facility there, two of his friends were shot and killed by Caster from Bixa-Loca, a planet in the outer-rim, by the name of Sessel Bane, a drunken bounty hunter. Silus was so angry that he disarmed Sessor, killed the bounty hunter with his bare hands and mopped up the entire facility before one of his friends had to bring to his attention the fact that there was no one else to fight with. He was shocked but came into his own at that time. Despite his quiet, dedicated and somewhat ferocious demeanor, Silus, with great appreciation for Ian's assistance, befriended Ian. So the first time Ian's friends turned enemies, began harassing him and Silus saw them, the harassing ended. It ended because Silus thrashed a group of five of them with hardly any problem. One of them was even a notorious **Klatooinian** powerwrestler by the name of **Draco Toral**.

Silus and Ian often had very scientific conversations but Ian would often lace his conversation with humor. Noghrian's generally lacked any sense of humor. Ian grew tired of this and bravely stood up to Silus demanding that he loosen up a little. Silus was impressed with Ian's bravery and a little embarrassed at the comment. Later, Ian recanted his chiding of Silus' lack of humor stating that his attempt at humor was more embarrassing than anything else. Silus went back to being his overly serious self and was not offended but rather relieved. Ian and Silus made it to their fourth year at the Academy together. Silus graduated as a fighter pilot for the Noghrian space fighter squad. Ian, at the encouragement of the Academy, went on to further his studies. Ian and Silus would stay friends forever but over the years Ian was only able to visit Silus a couple of times. Ian went on to five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, and even eleven years at the Academy. He finally graduated a doctor of Electronics, computers, droids, ship engineering and design and was again pulled into the world company of the Corellian's with open arms. He was given one of the nicer accommodations that they had and was put at one of the highest positions of government and management. He relished his position in government and won the appreciation of much of the population of Corellia for championing the "Better Housing" act. In fact, because of his high position as a government official, the food got better too. Ian was so proud. He vowed never to build a bad ship even if it were for less than savory characters. Which would later prove to be a less than ideal vow. He designed the space race ship that the Corellian's had been trying to build for years. It was given the name The Millennium Falcon by its owner who went on to be one of the most famous space racers ever. Ian excelled on Corellia, he built amazing ships, some small, some huge, all idiot proof, some aerodynamic, some not. The Imperialists on Naboo commissioned a fleet of very aerodynamic fighters and several ships for the Queen. Very stylish, very fast, very powerful, very well armed and very technologically advanced. (See GeoffsFiles/Images/StarwarsImages) for ship designs. The Trade Federation hated Naboo and secretly instigated civil war between the Naboo and the Gungans. The Naboo didn't want civil war but the Gungans fell for it hook line and sinker. Despite the Naboo requests for peace, the Gungans, an unrealistic species, insisted that they had been humiliated by the Naboo. The Trade Federation exploited this and was able to glean much of the beautiful resources from Naboo as part of their trade propaganda. The Gungans blamed the Naboo for generating such a great loss of resources from the planet and wanted the planet Renamed. They wanted to call it, "Plub" for which the Naboo vehemently rejected. The Trade Federation used much of the capital from Naboo to order a fleet of large trader ships from Correllia, all of which Ian designed. Some of his designs were built right there at the Corellian yards, some were on paper. The Corellian government urged not even a design on paper without payment. The Empire ordered a space station the likes of which no one had ever seen. It was not built because the Empire didn't have the capital at the time but Ian designed it and the Empire took the design, promising to pay. That's when the Empire discovered Dr. Ian Bartholomew. They wanted him but they would have to implement other parts of their system before they could get him. The Empire would have to implement its own government complete with personnel before they could do much of anything. The Empire would be built by a brilliant Sith by the name of Darth Plagueis.

The Empire was a small form of government, no one had really heard of them. Or at least the Empire had not become a household name yet. Darth Plagueis had ordered some Core Ships

designed and built from the Corellian yards but they were not as effective as he had hoped. He ordered them from the Corellians and recruited some humans from a nearby human populated planet but the human species was young, under educated, substandard and so were the ships. On one occasion Darth Plagueis ordered his small fleet to test the ships ability to attack other ships. He used some junk that he got from Corellia, set it adrift in space. He designed a mock scenario, trained the human contingent (who were under the power of Darth Plagueis and his ability to use the Dark Side) to act on a simulated attack. The core-ships weapons were limited, not very powerful and the human contingent, just not capable of what was considered a well-trained emergency reaction. They attacked the space junk, they missed everything, couldn't get target locks on anything, and when they finally did, the junk that they locked on was still somewhat operational, actuated a defense computer program, armed what weapons it had and destroyed one of the Core Ships. There was no way to control the space junk so they had to run. Several of the Core Ships were damaged by the time the human contingent was able to get the ships moving and away from the dangerous junk. Darth Plagueis, knowing that the dangerous junk was still active and would react the next time his fleet was in range, had to orchestrate it's destruction before they settled in the area. Shields up, weapons locked on, they did finally destroy it but it managed to all but bring the lead ships shields to about 5% before they destroyed it. Darth Plagueis had to find more competent humans that he could manipulate and he had to order better ships from the Corellians. The Core Ships were still incorporated into the Imperial fleet but newer, better ships were needed. And he owed the Corellian's for the last fleet he ordered. His capital was depleted from the first order. What to do?

Members of the Trade Federation came to him looking for something to Trade. That was when Darth Plagueis realized that they really didn't care who they worked with as long as there was a promise of Trade somewhere. Nute Gunray was not one of the sharpest leaders Darth Plagueis had run into. As a matter of fact the Neimoidians as a whole were really kind of wimpy and stupid. It's a wonder how they became so powerful as the Trade Federations main specie. The Trade Federation doesn't actually have any of their own fighter ships. They hire those types of defenses when needed. Their large ships have a complement of weapons but are often not used. The Neimoidians seem to believe that their ships, containing a lot of valuable Trade objects have become ships that no one wants to destroy. To destroy their ships is to destroy something valuable inside. Darth Plagueis didn't have to use the Dark Side to convince them to join the Empire. In fact he didn't even have to make them a part of the Empire. He promised them Heavy Trade from the Empire based on the success of the Empire so they loaned him all the capital he needed. Darth Plagueis went back to the Corellian's and ordered better ships. This time Ian built them Star Destroyers. The Trade Federation loaned Darth Plagueis lots of Capital so he ordered lots of Star Destroyers and one by one they were brought to Coruscant as a show of power even though people were told differently by Imperial members. And it worked. Before designing and building them, Ian would travel to the far reaches of the Galaxy to find superior weapons, technology, engines and shields to equip them with, he never built inferior ships. Upon request he also designed a great fighter ship for the Empire called the Tie Fighter and Several Shuttles that looked like Swans that were as well, well armed and all at the expense of the Trade Federation.

Darth Plagueis found out about a race of Human's near the edge of the Galaxy that were said to be more competent and more technologically advanced. A planet called **Rishi**. He headed there but the leaders of that human race were less than cooperative and had to have their hand forced a little. His original Human force wasn't too capable but they were none-the-less tough and could be made to be aggressive if necessary. The Human race on Rishi was threatened and after some aggressive negotiations, convinced to join the Empire. Other Sith joined the operation and assisted in the assimilation. Darth Athala, Darth Obdris and about ten others. All with the ability to manipulate the Dark Side and all with an overwhelming desire to construct a New Sith Presents in the Galaxy and destroy the Jedi in the process.

On a whim Ian also designed other ships some of which were purchased by the Empire and some that just sat on display at the Corellian ship yards for the avid onlooker, sort of like a car sales lot. One of the ships he designed he called the Corvette which was loaded with all the latest technology and well armed.

It came with eight great engines that made it a force to be reckoned with in speed anyway. The Corvettes were later all purchased by someone of unknown name and origin. The powers that be in the Empire asked the Corellians for the purchasers name but the Corellians were reluctant to answer at that time. Ian designed what he called a Blockade Runner.

Similar to the Corvette, but even more well armed. The Blockade runners were all, also purchased by an unknown source to which the Empire was not yet privy. "No questions asked." Ian was asked by the Corellian government to design more advanced fighter ships. They were well designed and deadly to all that were brave enough to attack them.

The Corellian's remained neutral for a time. News got around that the Trade Federation, a source that many used to feed and supply their own, was teaming up with the Empire. The Empire was growing but still not a popular force. The Empire insisted that the Trade Federation not trade with local planets unless they were willing to replace their governmental systems with the Empire. This alerted the Jedi. At first the Trade Federation still traded with certain planets but eventually all trade with any planet that wasn't part of the Empire had ceased. Governments of many of the planets began to worry.

The Jedi were selfless, they were the peace keepers of the galaxy but did not force anyone to take them on as government leaders. Yoda, lead the Jedi and trained many of them. The Empire was turned down by many planet government systems. The Empire Star Destroyer force was huge and it was time for them to make an example of all who would defy them. All of the Core ships and several of the new Star Destroyers surrounded a planet called **Yag'Dhul**. A planet that vehemently rejected the Empire. News reached many over the next couple of days, that the Empire, along with several Trade Federation ships, had surrounded the planet and made threats. Several of the Jedi were dispatched with their own versions of fighter and command ships that were not designed by the Corellians or Ian Bartholomew. The Jedi ships were formidable but no match for the immense size and ability of the Imperial ships. The Jedi were too far away to be affective. It was made clear that the Yag'Dhulian's rejected all of the Empires requests to be their government. So the order was finally issued by Darth Plagueis himself. "Reduce the planet to ashes." Upon that request, the Core-ships and the Star-Destroyers began firing, from space on the defenseless planet. In a matter of moments, the entire planet was reduced to a moon like atmosphere. No resident life, no vegetation, no vestige of any existence on the planet. Several more planets were targeted and destroyed before the Jedi could make a stand. The Imperial ships moved quickly and covertly as not to alert anyone to their presents or where-abouts. The Star-destroyers were most effective. Sometimes the core-ships were involved but the Star Destroyers were really all they needed. The weapons of the Star Destroyers were powerful. The Jedi finally caught up. They engaged the large ships but the Imperial Star Destroyers were too large and their shields too powerful for the small fighter ships to have any effect. Tie fighters were dispatched from the Imperial ships and the Jedi did made easy prey of them. The Empire decided not to lose anymore of the small fighting force and simply moved on. The Jedi did not pursue. The Jedi convened a meeting of the Jedi council on the planet of Coruscant. Coruscant, the entire planet was one big city. They reserved a small hall in one of the buildings there on Coruscant. Yoda was the head of the meeting along with several Jedi that had eventually also become heads of the council. Yoda called the meeting to order.

"Order I the first of business. Recommend I that, on Coruscant, a temple we should build."

The vote to establish a temple on Coruscant was unanimous. The Government of Coruscant was asked and the Jedi request was quickly approved. It was approved because the Empire was establishing its own presents on Coruscant. Coruscant was at the center of the Galaxy and the hub of most initial activity for the galaxy. Before long the government of Coruscant itself was told by the Empire that it should make the Empire its government system. And of course, the request was denied. And of course, many of the Imperial Star Destroyers were soon surrounding the planet. The Jedi presents were nowhere near great enough to ward off the Empire. None-the-less, the Jedi manned their ships and set out to protect the planet. Yoda was the leader of the defense force and in touch with many of the Jedi leaders.

"To defend Coruscant, I do not know how. But defend it we must." Said Yoda.

It was clear from several other encounters with the Empire that the Jedi would be no match. Suddenly out of nowhere, several other large ships appeared dropping out of Light Speed. At first no-one knew what to make of them. But as the Empire began to line its ships up for the onslaught, the new ships on the scene began to fire on them. Much to the pleasure of the Jedi, the Imperial force was quickly broken up and evasive maneuvers had to be taken by them. Soon space around Coruscant had become a war zone. One of the Star Destroyers was honed in on and destroyed. The Empire had to turn tail and run. The next time the Empire surrounded a planet, there would be more resistance and they would be ready. In the mean time the leader of the other ships hailed Yoda.

"Commander Yoda." The radio squawked in Yoda's small command ship.

"Commander Yoda here, to whom is this I speak?"

"Bail Organa at your service sir." The voice commanded.

"Know who you are, I do." Said Yoda.

"The new leader of the Republic Galactic Congress." He replied.

"Remember you now, I do. Just in time, you came. Owe you our lives we do." Said Yoda.

"Perhaps you'd heard about a ghost ship attacking the Empire." The voice came back.

"Some effect have you had, a rebel force you are." Acknowledges Yoda.

"The Rebel Alliance to be exact." He replied.

"A location have you?" Yoda asks.

"Not at this time great leader." The voice acknowledges.

"Then a place for you to settle, we must find. Meet, can we, to discuss this?" Yoda asks.

"If it pleases the great leader of the Jedi, we will join forces. We should meet on the planet surface." Says Bail.

"On the planet surface, we will meet." Says Yoda.

Dr. Ian Bartholomew, now the most prominent ship and electrical engineer, ship designer, droid programmer and general space scientist on the planet of Corellia. Aware of the news but still un-ware that his ships were being used by the Empire to cause such destruction. Almost ignorant to the Empires use of his ships and ship designs.

"What's this?" Ian asks of one of his government official friends on Corellia as he picks up dusty blueprints all rolled up in a pile of other defunct blueprints.

"Plans for a Space Station." Replies the official. "Scrubbed." He replies further.

Ian looks at the plans, he peruses them. The official is doing something else. "I can improve on this." Ian blurts.

The official looks over as Ian continues to peruse the plans. "It was scrubbed. There's no need now."

Ian rolls them back up and tosses them aside "What a shame, the one who thought of this was very ambitious and inspired."

His friend is reading something and turns his attention to Ian. "Have you paid much attention to the news lately?"

Ian is looking at other things and really doesn't react to the question directly. "No, not lately."

His friend reads a little more, and then comments. "This… Empire, all over the news lately. Apparently they believe they are what should be the new government around the galaxy."

Ian still isn't paying much attention. "Yes, I've heard of them in passing. Too busy building ships to worry too much about that."

His friend tosses the paper aside, "Suppose you're right."

Ian looks up. "Nothing in this room worth looking at, suppose we move on?"

"Oh, good show Dr. good show." Ian's friend replies glad that Ian has decided to leave that room, he was board.

They leave the room, shut off the light and the door slides closed automatically. In the corridor of the building, small droids and other automated devices roam around. The place is abuzz with activity. Most of it goes unnoticed by Ian and the official. They walk down the corridor chatting as if nothing were wrong. But amongst all the buzz, the Empire plants its seeds of corruption.

In a meeting hall on Coruscant in the new Jedi temple, Yoda and Bail, amongst other officials, sit around a table chatting. Yoda finally brings the group to order.

"This Empire, very aggressive they have become." Says Yoda.

"Yes, insisting that people make them government, forcing people even." Another official says.

The meeting goes on and it is finally decided that the Empire is Evil and should be stopped.

"Who is leading them?" One official asks.

They all look at each other but no one answers. Yoda perks up. "Find this out we must. Then better their intentions can we determine."

"Agreed." Blurts Bail. "Who do we task with finding this out?"

No one speaks up at first, then one of the Jedi, a man by the name of Count Dooku perks up. "Commander Yoda, I and my team could begin this investigation. We may need more people at some point."

"When necessary, more you shall have." Replies Yoda. "Begin immediately, this investigation you must."

Count Dooku stands up and leaves the table. As he's leaving the room… "I will assemble my team and we will plan accordingly commander Yoda."

Yoda waves him on. The meeting continues. "A fleet of ship have they, great it is."

"Yes, they have a Corellian appearance to them." An official adds.

"Yes, I'm sure these are Corellian made ships." Another official says.

"Then we must ask the Corellians to stop." Says Bail.

"Ask this, we cannot." Comments Yoda.

"Why not?" Asks Bail.

"Their problem, it is not. Stop, they would not anyway." Answers Yoda.

The meeting goes on, more issues on that particular subject are discussed.

Count Dooku and his team arrive on the planet of Corellia. He and several members of his team disembark and are met by Corellian officials. They act as though they are willing to assist in any way possible but Yoda was right, the Corellian government is good at putting on an heir of cooperation but have no real intention of doing so. As Dooku's team leaves, a group of officials from Corellia cordially see them off. Count Dooku is skeptical and reports to Yoda. Yoda, tells him that it was the first place to inquire and their reaction was indeed suspect. Dooku and his team leave Corellia and travel back to Coruscant. But this time they bypass the Jedi temple and arrive at the place where the Empire is placing their ships as a display of power, the Coruscant ship yards. They attempt to go aboard one of the ships that is being retrofitted with something but it is unclear what it is being retrofitted with and security is very high. They are unable to gain access without a warrant from the Judicial Branch of the Republic. Even after repeated attempts, they are refused access.

"What are you trying to hide?" Dooku asks one of the guards.

"I'm not authorized to say sir. And quite frankly, I don't know." The Stormtrooper answers.

Dooku maintains calm. He thinks, "Probably better that way." He says to himself.

Dooku leads his team away again. On board their Corvette, Dooku asks of the team to return to their offices and continue the investigation retrieving data about the Empire over the computer, at least for the day. He assures them that tomorrow there will be more to look into. That night, Count Dooku, being the ever persistent Jedi , covertly arrives back at the Coruscant ship yards with his own ship. He is careful not to arouse any of the guards and uses his Jedi powers of persuasion (the Jedi mind trick) to divert the attention of the guards long enough for him to gain access. Dooku enters the one of the grounded Star Destroyers.

In the mean time Yoda calls for more Jedi assistance. He calls a meeting of the present Jedi force and the Jedi that are far off, join by hologram. The fact that the Empire has forcefully incorporated the assistance of another race of Human's is of great concern amongst all of them. Preparations for an eminent attack by the Empire, on other planets is believed to be planned. It is assumed that another planet where the entire indigenous specie is Human has them wondering. It is decided that **Concord Dawn** would be the next logical choice being that it is the most concealed of all the Human controlled planets. One of the younger, newer Alliance soldiers asks one of the older soldiers about the Jedi.

"Who are they? Are they from a different planet, and where are their weapons?" Asks the young soldier.

"No, Jedi come from many races and planets around the galaxy. They follow some ancient religion they call The Force. And they do carry weapons, see that long mechanism hanging at their sides?" The older man says.

"Yes, I just figured that was part of their equipment." Says the younger soldier.

"Well, that is what is known as a Light Saber. When actuated, a beam of light emits from the device and becomes a weapon like a sword. A weapon like no other. That's all they carry."

"Can anyone be a Jedi, can anyone get a Light Saber?"

"Well, I've never seen someone who isn't a Jedi carrying one. I guess it happens from time to time but only a Jedi can really wheeled one, they use their religion to assist them. Jedi are people who have supposedly been chosen by the Force and are given powers of strength and control much that of ordinary men. No, just a chosen few become Jedi." The older soldier says.

"They dress funny." The younger soldier notes.

"Look carefully, the clothes they wear are simple. The Jedi stand out because of their selflessness. They, like most venerable men, have no need of lavish things. They live only for the resistance of evil and defend those who can't defend themselves."

"They seem to keep to themselves. Pretty sure of themselves aren't they?"

"Actually, if you were to talk to one, which I have, you would find them quite pleasant and conversational. They just don't indulge in simple conversation. They don't really talk about things that don't matter. They would talk to anyone, you should some time. Just ask them about themselves, tell them about things that bother you, they're quite insightful." The older soldier says.

"So they're just… born with all this power, they don't need any training?" The younger asks.

"As far as I understand, they usually don't know they have the power until someone of the Force brings it to their attention. As I understand, they must be trained from a very young age and training lasts most of their young adult lives. As far as I know, training never really ends. At some point they receive the title of Jedi Knight but I don't really understand all that." Says the older.

"But they're powerful… un-killable?"

"Not un-killable, many have died in the service of the Force but yes… powerful none-the-less." The older says. "No ordinary man could kill one."

A detachment of Jedi and Rebel forces is sent there to stake out the planet but after several days no attack comes. On or about the forth day, news carries a story of how the planet **Etti IV** has been attacked which is near Concord Dawn. The majority of its male contingent has been taken, rounded up like cattle, men separated from boys. Many resist and are brought down by some sort of incapacitating pulse. When fired from the strange rifle, one can see the pulse as it erupts from the rifle. A clear pulse and yet it foils the air, growing larger as it passes quickly from weapon to escaping specie. It makes no noise when it hits someone and it seems to take out more than one at a time. Hundreds of pulses can be seen when one looks down into a valley where the indigenous are being rounded up. Some of the male specie are able to jump Imperial soldiers who are unprepared for the resistance. The males understand that this is permanent and wrong. They kill rather than just incapacitate, some of the Imperial soldiers lay dead. Others punish those who would set against the Empire but the fallen soldiers are ignored, left by their fellow compatriots where they lay. Who took them and where? The Empire claims it knows nothing about this attack but the Jedi know better. Analysis of the Empire by advanced computers indicates that the Empire has increased in personnel by a large percentage. The Jedi can only assume this is because of the males that have been kidnapped and assimilated. During one of Yoda's meetings with the Jedi leadership, word of Dooku's disappearance is discussed. He hasn't been seen for weeks. Yoda sends another detachment of investigators, to include some of the Rebels, to the planet of Etti IV to see if any information of value can be gotten about the count. Upon inquiring of many of the female contingent of the planet, none are able or maybe un-willing to divulge any information on the loss of the men. The investigators are simply given the same story, _most of the men just disappeared_. One of the Jedi officials takes this as a sign to speak to one of the few remaining men on Etti IV. They are also unable or unwilling to shed any light on the matter. Upon further analysis, it is discovered that only married men are taken. The men left behind did not have relationships or families. Other than that, no other information had been retrieved. Yoda on Coruscant, tries himself to gain access to one of the Imperial ships located on the planet. He uses one of his often used military ships to travel to different locations but cannot board without proper authorization. Finally the Judicial branch of the planet is polled and based on the reputation of the Jedi for being correct more times than not about certain hunches, a warrant is authorized. By the time the warrant is issued, the Imperial ships are gone. Upon trying to find out why and where they have gone, Yoda is met by a dead end. When he reports back to the judicial organization that issued the warrant, Yoda is met with resistance on the matter. In fact, all knowledge of the warrant is denied and he is told by the judicial group that he is no longer aloud to intervene in this matter and that any and all investigative teams dispatched by the Jedi Council are to be recalled and all investigations into the Empire are to cease and desist. A secret meeting of the Jedi High council is brought about. The Judicial branch of Coruscant is not aware of its convening.

"What did you find out about the Empire master Yoda?" One of the Jedi masters asks.

"Nothing." Replies Yoda.

Another Jedi master speaks up. "The Judicial branch of Coruscant issued the original warrant did they not master?"

"They did." Replies Yoda.

"Did you report any findings to them?" Asks another Jedi master.

"I did not." Replies Yoda.

"Then we are to assume that you were unable to do so master?" Asks another Jedi master on Holo.

Yoda turns his attention to the Holo. "Correct you are."

Several of the Jedi High Council murmur amongst each other. "Master Yoda, would it be presumptuous of us to ask why?" Asks the first Jedi master.

"It would not." Replies Yoda. He continues on. "My determination it is, that from the Empire, the judicial officials, gotten to, they have been. By the Dark side the judicial officials here on Coruscant, are they controlled. Through the Force, controlling them, someone is."

"By the Dark Side. There is only one faction that knows how to control the Dark Side." A Jedi master presumes.

"Not a Jedi but, involved, but Sith I believe." Sums Yoda.

More murmuring.

Yoda continues. "Assume we must, a Sith the Judicial branch is controlled by. At this Juncture, into our own hands, this matter must be taken."

"It has been a long time since the Jedi have taken matters into their own hands." A Jedi master states. "Are we really doing the right thing?"

"Believe it is time, do I." Says Yoda.

"If you believe it to be so master, then I suggest we all concur." Another Jedi master concludes.

All agree, Yoda is set to lead the charge. The first thing Yoda suggests is that several planets be staked out. Yoda and certain officials stay behind to coordinate the effort. And as the Jedi are persistent and wise, they determine that an attack on another planet near **Concord Dawn** would be too obvious. A stake out of planets in remote locations on the other side of the galaxy is planned. This time, they are correct. In fact, one planet called **Sedratis** is already under attack when a detachment of Jedi and Rebel forces arrives. The indigenous males are being kidnapped by the Empire as forced labor. More Jedi and Rebel forces are called. The force that is already there wastes no time, they attack immediately. For awhile, space around the planet is a war zone. Imperial Star Destroyers cruise through space firing on Alliance and Sedratis ships. Streaks of light energy pass through space from one ship to another. Green pulses from the Jedi and the Rebels, Red light pulses from the Empire. Rebel ships pass near the Star Destroyers firing as they go in sea battle fashion as though only cannons between them. A few Jedi and rebel forces descend to the planet's surface to quell that attack there. The Imperial force has them out numbered. The few Jedi that are there are themselves a powerful force. As soon as they are in the open air, their light sabers ignite and they begin deflecting shots or swinging at the Imperial soldiers and Storm troopers with precision thrusts. The Jedi cut through Imperial troops leaving a swath of bodies behind each of them like a combine cutting through corn. Unfortunately the Sith are not far off, two are in space and begin to attack back at the Jedi and Rebel forces there. The Jedi have their own fighter ships and use the force to hone in on the Imperial Tie fighters, destroying them in droves. When the Sith come in with their strange fighter ship configurations, the Jedi are always surprised at their accuracy. The Jedi aren't the only ones able to use the Force to assist them and even in space. It would seem that the Tie Fighters have no deflector shields or if they do, they are not a result of modern technology. The Tie fighters explode the minute an Alliance ship or Jedi fires on it. The Star Destroyers however, take damages but the damage is small. Their deflector shields are fantastic and even the larger Alliance ships don't have much effect. Each time the Alliance again faces Imperial Star Destroyers in another battle, they becomes more and more difficult to damage. Their weapons seem stronger and their deflector shields seem more advanced. One would wonder why the technology has not moved to the Tie Fighters, unless the Tie Fighters are a front for something more powerful, no one really knows. The Jedi didn't have to concentrate as much on the Force when up against the Imperial Tie Fighters but when the Sith come in, it's every man for himself. The Jedi are well trained in their space fighter abilities and soon gain the upper hand again. The Sith, as good as they are, are still out gunned, out manned and out maneuvered when facing Alliance and Jedi forces in space. A few of the Alliance fighters suffer fatale blows but even they know enough to fall into formation against the Sith. The Jedi fighters take over and soon have the Sith fighters on the run. Before long the Jedi use the Force to maneuver behind the Sith. They lock on target and begin to fire, the Sith have no choice but to turn hard to avoid being destroyed. Their shields are good but will weaken if pounded enough which the Jedi do. Where one Jedi loses a lock on a Sith target another is right there to take over. And if a Sith gets a radar lock, the Alliance ships are right there to throw them off. Before long, additional Rebel forces show up complete with Jedi. They make it all most impossible for the Imperials to gain any control, the Empire is soon overwhelmed.

More Sith on the surface also jump in. Now the few Jedi that seemed to be taking the fight to the Empire are busy with their own battles. The tables begin to turn, the Empire is beginning to win back ground. Eventually more Jedi and rebel forces would be able to join the fight. In the midst of the ground battles, the Jedi are in the middle using every ounce of the Force that they can muster to sense laser bolts or Sith Light Saber attacks coming their way so that they can block them with their Light Sabers and yet at the same time, they have to fend off physical attacks by Imperial Soldiers or Storm Troopers, the Storm Troopers are wicked in a fight. When a Sith comes, the Jedi, a force to be reckoned with, have to break off any of the simpler battles and devote all their attention to the Sith. Jedi and Rebel forces staking out other planets are busy as well with fights in space or on the surface of those planets in different areas and are unable to pull away to offer assistance at the moment. Now the amount of Imperial Forces on the surface along with the Sith outnumber the good forces ten to one. The Empire sustains heavy damage but the Jedi even with the additional efforts, are beginning to fall. Sith and Imperial forces fall as well but the combined forces against the Jedi and the Rebels are taking their toll. The Jedi are eventually beaten and the Rebel forces are killed off. Some of the indigenous species try to assist the good guys but are eventually beaten as well not being prepared for such a conflict. The Star Destroyers, though not impenetrable, are quite powerful. They have light speed capability, they are heavily weaponised and in particular their shields are much better than anyone has seen. Yoda notices that it has been a long time since a Star Destroyer has itself been destroyed. The Star Destroyers sustain damage, sometimes they even become immobilized but their shields remain operational and their weapons continue to fire. Their weapons, never as a single entity, but when fired with other weapons of the same caliber, seem to have a destructive force unlike any that the Rebels or Jedi ever seen. Different and with a power that the Rebels would like to have in their arsenal, the Alliance ships have powerful weapons but their shields don't seem as powerful. Their weapons, no more effective when combined as they are alone. All with Light Speed capability but not nearly as maneuverable as the Star Destroyers when not at Light Speed. The Large Alliance ships are still more easily destroyed, the Rebels seem to lose at least one during every battle. The difference… the Star Destroyers are all Corellian designed and built. Though some of the Alliance ships are also, they don't seem to encompass the same technologies that the Star Destroyers do, and it's well known that the Empire is always looking for something even better.

When the other battles are won, Yoda and others arrive in the sector, the outcome looks grim. Pieces of ships linger in space, some Imperial, some rebel. A few Rebel and Imperial ships had run off rather than face a possible fate. No sign that any of the Imperial Star Destroyers have themselves been destroyed. The planets in the system are heavily scarred and a majority of the indigenous males from the planets in that sector have been taken. Though this time, not all of the Married males were taken because the Empire disappeared with what they had before more Jedi and Rebel forces could fend them off. When Yoda arrives at the surface of one of the planets, he is shocked to see all the Jedi that were present, dead from laser blasts or light saber wounds. All of the Rebel soldiers dead along with a lot of the indigenous persons. Several of the High Council come to the planet's surface and surround Yoda observing.

"Too late we are. A great loss this battle was."

"Yes master Yoda, the Empire has planned well and were higher in number. It seems that the other small battles were diversions" Another Jedi master says.

Yoda stops. "Needed, more Jedi are, train more, we must."

A leader of the Rebel forces speaks up with a newly determined attitude. "This will not detour the Rebel Alliance. We will continue to fight alongside the Jedi as long as it takes."

"Good this is but more Rebels I fear we will need." Yoda adds.

"Then we'll simply have to step up recruitment of more planets." Says the Rebel Leader.

"Prepared to do this are you?" Yoda asks.

"We will… increase our efforts master Yoda." Replies the leader.

"Then hope there is." Says Yoda.

One of the other Jedi masters also speaks up with renewed vigor. "There are many more species that have the ability to manipulate Force in the galaxy, we will find them, and train them. The Sith will not gain a foothold again master Yoda."

Yoda bows his head acknowledging his appreciation.

As time goes on, it becomes apparent that the Empire seems to have infiltrated the Senate Republic. They seem to be everywhere, their weaponry has increased; their fleet seems to have increased. Even more Star Destroyers it seems, as more planets have fallen to them and the Jedi don't seem to be able to track them down. Finally more Jedi join them from around the galaxy and there are still more, that have remained where they were but send word and could be called into action on short notice. More planets and planetary systems have also secretly joined the Rebellion. The Rebel Alliance is growing. The investigation into where the Empire will strike next is on-going. A Jedi by the name of **Sifo-Dyas** assists Yoda in investigating and planning. Sifo-Dyas has his own idea about adding to the Rebel Alliance and has proposed it to Yoda. The Kamino's have gained a reputation for cloning, Yoda rejects the idea immediately. But Sifo-Dyas is a bit of a rebel himself and often goes around Yoda to get things done. Which, up until recently, hadn't been a problem. Sifo-Dyas disappears, Yoda knows that he has gone on a rampage of sorts and recommends to the Jedi council that he be removed from the council temporarily. Sifo-Dyas goes to the planet **Mandalore** to see about hiring some of the well known warriors there. A bounty-hunter by the name of Jango Fett, in a bar on Mandalore sits discussing something with another species that also looks like a mercenary. Sifo-Dyas gets closer and overhears them talking about a job Jango was doing for the Hutt's. He was commissioned to kill a man on the planet of **Takodana** by the name of **Maz Kanata**. Sifo-Dyas had heard of Maz Kanata and though he wasn't the most popular guy in the system, he did at least represent some neutrality there. Jango had to be stopped, Sifo followed Jango to the planet of Takodana. When Jango exited his ship, Sifo was waiting for him and jumps out surprising him. Jango, startled, draws his weapon but then holsters it seeing that it is a Jedi.

"I cannot let you kill this man." Says Sifo.

Jango, behind his helmet in his low, menacing calculating tone replies, "I've no quandary with you Jedi, stay out of my way and you won't get hurt."

Sifo continues to get in his way even though Jango attempts to go around him. "As a Jedi and a protector of this galaxy, I must insist that you cease and desist all bounty hunter activity."

"Why, the Jedi have never interfered before. Why is this matter any different?" Asks Jango.

"Because the Jedi haven't been privy to bounty-hunter action in the past." Replies Sifo.

"That doesn't make any sense. I'm sure the Jedi could find us if they wanted to. Stand aside Jedi or I'll destroy you." Jango says.

Sifo pulls his Light Saber, Jango doesn't wait, he draws his weapon and fires immediately. Sifo, being the well trained Jedi that he is, uses his Light Saber to deflect the shot back at Jango. Jango dives, rolls and fires again and again, Sifo continues to defect the shots. A battle ensues between the two men. It comes to hand to hand combat, Jango is no slouch, he can fist fight with the best. The two men use forms of self-defense on each other. Sifo eventually outmaneuvers Jango, wins and takes Jango who is knocked out, back to the Jedi ship and secures him for the trip back to Coruscant. In hopes, secretly that he can sway Jango to help the Jedi and recruit some of the warriors from Mandalore to assist the effort. Yoda would surely consider a different tactic but Sifo as is often the case, is on his own. As Sifo is traveling through space, he gets an idea and turns his ship. Yoda has several of the Jedi masters in a meeting of the Jedi council. They discuss plans to catch the Empire in the act of kidnapping but the Empire outnumbers them greatly in personnel and ships now, so planning must be precise. The Empire must be caught and exposed to the public for their actions. First to stop them from acquiring more unwilling persons and second, to make known to the rest of the galaxy, what they're doing and prepare if nothing else. News travels fast, the Empire has somehow established itself as the good guys in some realms. The galaxy is in shambles because of the Empire, taking the Empire on as government is what is best for the planets of each system, so they say. The Jedi know better but now many of the systems and planets in the galaxy support the Empire be-it because of fear or because they truly believe that the Empire is going to fix everything. The Sith want to invade and dominate everything, that's their way. Yoda knows this better than anyone. In a distant system, currently, Sith had gotten together to pro-create hoping to add to their numbers, Darth Plagueis is the one who instantiated this. The first Sith child to be born was named by Darth Plagueis himself and becomes Darth Sidious. The Sith are fairly well organized when it comes to their own. The parents of Darth Sidious gladly leave him in the hands of Darth Plagueis. Darth Plagueis quickly becomes the father but quickly realizes that he needs someone to mother the child until it is old enough to function on its own. Sith women are no good as mothers so he goes back to one of the planets where they kidnapped the male inhabitants and has his minion's line up many of the women from that planet. Plagueis interviews the women but none seem to really fit the roll. He finally lands on a woman by the name of Shmee, she is different, most of the women reject the idea of rearing a child that is not their own and are of the Sith species. Shmee seems to be open to the idea even though she thinks Plagueis and the rest of the Empire are evil. The last man she was with resisted the Empires attempt to take him as forced labor and was killed. This happened before he and Shmee could have children of their own. Shmee decided that rearing someone else's child was better than nothing even if the child was Sith and child rearing was something she wanted desperately. She agreed on the premise that one… she would be able to teach the child as he grew. Plagueis, being the deviate monster that he was, agreed knowing that in truth, he would be teaching the child Sith ways. And two, that he and Shmee be married. Now as part of the Sith creed, when two Sith married it was for life and a Sith man could never kill off his wife, and vice versa. Who knows why? Darth Plagueis married Shmee but had no intention of honoring the marriage. He treated Shmee badly, he beat her often even while she was in constant care of the child. And he beat her in front of the child so that the child would grow up learning this behavior. But Shmee was relentless, despite her beatings she continued to hound Darth Plagueis about how the child was being reared and taught. She did not want that child being taught the Sith way. Darth Plagueis would train the child one way and Shmee would come along and teach the child the opposite or that the Sith way was wrong. Eventually Darth Plagueis decided that Shmee had to go. Darth Plagueis was as evil as they came but he was a stickler for the few traditions that accompanied the Sith. The Creed was the creed, because they were married, and even though he really didn't honor the marriage, and in spite of the fact that she was Human, they were legally married. He decided, even though she was human, that he could not just kill her off. The child became older and was much attached to his mother despite Darth Plagueis' teaching. Darth Plagueis took Shmee to a slave colony on Tatooine not realizing that the child had become attached to his mother. Darth Plagueis gave her away to a slave owner there. Often the slave owners had to pay for a slave but Shmee was free for the taking and a slave owner would be ever so glad to get a slave for free knowing that they could take a complete profit from the sale of such a commodity later. **Darth Sidious** was too young to understand why his mother was sent away but as he grew, it became apparent to him, despite what his father told him, that his mother would in fact probably never return. One day, Darth Sidious asked his father, Darth Plagueis, about his mother. Plagueis told his son the truth thinking that the child was old enough to understand and would appreciate his father's position on the matter. Besides, Sith children didn't normally become attached to their mothers. Of course their mother's weren't human mothers like Shmee. Darth Plagueis trained his son well so far, Darth Sidious had indeed become devious. But he was still fraught with grief and anger by the news of his mother's demise but also knows… he is too young and untrained to do anything about it now.

Sifo-Dyas is headed for Kamino with his query in tow. He arrives on Kamino and is astonished at the great torrent that engulfs the entire planet. How could anyone survive here? The constant darkness, wind, rain, and crashing waves of the endless ocean. The Kamino's really didn't know the difference, one planet was the same as another to them. Sifo-Dyas is met by a Kamino by the name of Char-Poof. (Father of the later Jedi master, Yarial Poof). He pulls Jango, who was conscious now, from the ship but he is still well bound. Sifo asked Char if they could clone a large army from this one man, Char assures Sifo that it had to be Jango's decision. Sifo had assumed that they, the Jedi, would offer Jango a large sum of capital if he would agree to be cloned. Sifo also decided that Jango would need a place to stay assuming he would be a marked man now. Char then asks Sifo how many people they want cloned.

"How many can you give me?" Asks Sifo.

"As many as you wish." Replies Char.

Sifo thinks a moment, "Would six-hundred thousand be too many."

"No but there is a matter of… payment." Says Char.

"Per man I suppose?" Sifo inquires.

"100,000.00 in capital to be exact." Char replies.

"Per man?" Asks Sifo in shock.

"Per man." Char confirms. "We will… of course offer a discount of sorts for so many."

"Then thee-hundred thousand. And I suppose you want payment in advance?" Sifo asks.

"The word of a Jedi is sufficient, you can pay upon receipt." Says Char.

Sifo gladly agrees, they shake and Sifo leaves. Jango watches Sifo's ship take off from his apartment window. Jango has other plans, Char comes to him later and quietly comments that all requests would come from the one who pays. Jango doesn't understand why he's been released and questions Char about it. Char explains what he and Sifo had decided about paying Jango to be cloned, Jango agrees. Jango asks if the process would hurt, Char assures him that a small scratch of his skin would be sufficient and the process would begin. Jango is given a place to live, his skin is scratched right in his new apartment which causes him no pain what so ever. The implement used to scratch him is used to extract the DNA necessary to begin the cloning process. Yoda finally reaches Sifo who is headed back to Coruscant. Yoda asks him what he's been doing, Sifo is about to explain to Yoda when an Imperial Star Destroyer, who intercepted their chatter, sneaks up and fires on Sifo's ship causing his ship to malfunction, the connection to Yoda is cut, the Empire knew exactly where to hit him, they tractor him in. Sifo knows he can't do anything against the tractor beam and ready's himself for battle. On board the Star Destroyer, preparations are especially made knowing that they've captured a Jedi. Sifo's ship is brought aboard, alarms sound all over the ship. No one dares get close to it knowing how powerful the Jedi can be. Even the two Sith on board the Star Destroyer are somewhat hesitant to approach the Jedi ship. Sifo has no fear and that can be seen from outside his ship as well as felt by the two Sith through the Dark Side. A ray shield is set as a trap but the Imperials know that even a ray shield is no guarantee that the Jedi can be held. The Sith enact a plan between the two of them, they both pull their double edged light sabers and ignite them. One stands aside while the other whacks at the canopy of the Jedi ship. Sifo uses the Force to keep the light saber from penetrating the canopy, he then uses the Force to push the Sith away, slamming him up and into a wall behind him. One of the Imperial generals whispers in the Sith's ear. The other Sith is ready and uses his power over the Dark Side to ward off Sifo's attack. The general walks back toward his troops, the troops then surround the Jedi ship. The other Sith is back in action and he's pissed, he attacks the Jedi ship again but again Sifo uses the Force to push the Sith away. This time that Sith is ready, he uses his power over the dark side to quell the attack from the Jedi as best he can, it's enough, the other Sith cuts the canopy open. The imperial army waits just long enough for the Sith to jump out of the way and all fire on the Jedi position. Sifo is able to fend off the attack by the Imperial Army but one of the Sith jumps back in and hits Sifo-Dyas with a light saber obliterating him completely, Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas is dead. Darth Plagueis senses this from where he is and inadvertently broadcasts it to the Jedi. The Rebels intercept the message broadcast by the Empire, the message says, "Supplies are not difficult to acquire and by the way, a Jedi has been destroyed. The Jedi council hears this but are not convinced. Yoda enters, his head hung low.

"Master Yoda," says one of the Jedi masters, "Message monitors, in the Rebel Alliance have intercepted a message saying that master Sifo-Dyas is dead but we have no confirmation of this. We…"

"…True it is." Says Yoda.

"What?" Asks another Jedi master.

"Sensed have I, in the Force, a disturbance." Says Yoda. "Died a Jedi has, master Sifo-Dyas it must be, just talked to him I did, cut off we were, re-establish a connection with him, I was not able."

"Master Sifo-Dyas was superior with the Force, it seems impossible." Another Jedi master concludes.

"Not when, the Sith involved, they were." Responds Yoda.

"Then there is a vacancy on the council." Says a Jedi master.

"Yes, a vacancy there is." Says Yoda.

Yoda requests that the best of the other Jedi be brought up through the ranks and trained as a Jedi master.

Darth Sidious is now thirteen, his father Darth Plagueis is constantly teaching him the Sith way. They go hunting in places where hunting is forbidden and hunting for things that weren't supposed to be hunted, Sith make their own rules. They steel from other non Sith ships in space and commandeer the ships as pirates would. They kill anyone who defies them even a little. Darth Plagueis and Sidious were on an Empire vessel when the Empire stopped a random ship passing by them for an inspection. It was believed that the Hutt's had smugglers moving illegal items through that sector. Darth Plague and Sidious are present during the inspection. An illegal item is found though the occupants of that ship were not related to the Hutt's. Darth Plagueis being the evil man that he was, lined up the occupants of the ship, man, woman and child, pulled his Light Saber, tortured and executed each member one at a time in front of the other members who began pleading for their lives. Darth Plagueis was relentless, he was slow and cruel about it, cutting off limbs before ending a life. He set his Light Saber to sever a limb but not cauterizing the wound causing blood to gush as he proceeded. The Imperial officers and crew were shocked by the act but new better than to let on. At first Darth Sidious shrinks back at some of this bloody violence but quickly gets over it, eventually the young Sith would become hardened to it. Darth Plagueis builds his new apprentice a double-ended light saber and begins to teach him to use it. At first the young Sith is clumsy with it. Darth Plagueis is relentless, even cruel to the youngling. Learning from a Sith Lord is always painful and somewhat unforgiving.

Shmee is on Tatooine and under the rule of a harsh Slave owner. She doesn't care, she only frets over the loss of the child she was helping Darth Plagueis to raise.

One of the Jedi masters, a Jedi by the name of **Fias Shesh** approaches Yoda and tells him about a child that he'd run across during one of his missions to a planet called **Rokanh**. They were able to study the human residence on the planet to determine their level of development for possible admittance to the Alliance. While doing so, a child had been born. The parents, though greatly revered in that particular tribe, had no power over the Force themselves. The child was great with it. A dessert planet where the inhabitants are very early in their development. The inhabitants have no language for which to communicate, they draw pictures and grunt. The child would have to be extracted without the other planetary members knowing it. There is also the matter of his parents, even though primitive in their development, paternal instincts are still strong. It would have to look as though the child had died. The parents would have to leave the child behind, abandon it. There is also a possibility of dangerous wild creatures indigenous to the planet which were largely un-studied at that time. To disturb them would be to disturb the natural growth of the indigenous species on the planet. To extract the child, who is very young, they would have to be careful not to kill any of these natural creatures in the process. Yoda sends a contingent of six Jedi and a few Rebel Soldiers to the planet to do what they could to extract the child. Amongst them are two Jedi, one by the name of **Merton Dulius** and the other a Jedi master named **Kiber Storm**. Kiber would be the expedition leader and would determine if there was a proper time to extract the child. The planet had to be scanned, a safe and secluded place had to be found to land. Once a place was found they had to be able to land without alerting anyone to their position, including those who dwell in space, like the Empire. So traveling through space would have to be kept as covert as possible. They finally find a place to land, basically behind a sand dune in the middle of a remote desert. They disembark with supplies on their backs and hike toward the village where the child was last seen. The hike would take several days. None of the member of the search party complained in the least. Kiber used his Jedi senses to be aware if there was an animal or human nearby. No humans were detected during their travels but they past several large beasts, some menacing, some not so much. All the Jedi were well trained with the Force and able to conceal their scents, the scents of the other human travelers and their obvious presents from the animals. As days past they began to see vegetation or what looked like vegetation, most not known to them so they would steer clear if possible. They eventually arrived near the village where the child was purported to be. There was no reason for Kiber to give last minute instructions, they all knew their jobs and what was expected of them. What they weren't ready for was the tree like creatures later known as **Sesslyn** **,** which used their tree like camouflage to conceal themselves until prey was near. The one female Jedi **Aki Star** was closest to the beasts when they attacked. One of the tree like creatures, large in constitution, scooped her up. She, as a Jedi, was composed not to scream but the other five Jedi and Rebel soldiers were instantly alerted to her situation. The beast was tall and raised her up high out of the reach of the other Jedi. They tried to get to her but the Sesslyn transferred her to lower branches and crushed her to death. When the beast was sure she was dead, it dropped her. There were several more Sesslyn surrounding the team and when she hit the ground the other Sesslyn pounced on her. Their mouths were where their root system would be and their seemingly calm nature as trees gave way to deep growls and a mouth full of menacing sharp teeth. They quickly made a meal of her tearing her apart as a lion would and pulling its part of the carrion away from the rest. Another Jedi by the name of **Drexel Tyandas** drew his light saber and was about to kill one of the beasts but Kiber stopped him. She was already dead and they could all use their Jedi powers to hide themselves from the other Sesslyn. Kiber was the leader and despite his anger, Drexel believed that Kiber knew best. He and Kiber quickly re-donned the Force and the Sesslyn were unable to find them. But now there was another problem, the villagers were alerted because of the noise. More of the Sesslyn came in like a den of lions and when the villagers approached un-aware, the Sesslyn pounced. This time there was lots of noise and blood. Drexel Tyandas was about to jump out to help the villagers when Kiber stopped him again.

"But they need our help master." Whispered Drexel.

"No, we cannot interfere, it is our law." Kiber whispered back.

Some of the Sesslyn were killed or run off by the villagers with their primal weaponry, and some of the villagers were also killed. To the great fortune of the Jedi, it was later determined that the parents of the young child were among the dead. The villagers rallied and began to move the dead bodies away from the tribal area. The young child followed the dead parents un-aware of what had transpired. Now would the rest of the village take on responsibility for the child or would the child be left behind. Another stroke of luck, the child was lost in the process of dragging the bodies away and overlooked by the villagers. The child sat near the dead parents still un-aware of his own loss. After several days the child became hungry and began pawing at the dead bodies of its parents and with the tribe back in their own little community, Kiber decided that it was safe to begin covertly extracting the child. It was true, the child was great with the Force, all of the Jedi could sense it. A plan was made to coax the child in. The child was picked up by the Jedi team and brought back to Coruscant. The child was given to a family by the name of Windu until he was old enough to begin training as a Jedi. The Windu family was allowed to give the child a first name so they called him Mace.

Many of the planets in the Galaxy become disillusioned, the Empire is indeed the best way to operate a government. Darth Plagueis has become the Emperor and his minions, his lords and leaders. He is only Emperor to the Empire, the Senate Republic is slowly turning to side with the Empire, some members not in agreement. The Trade Federation consider themselves separatist, autonomous between the Republic and the Empire. But the Empire sees it differently, eventually the separatists will also be assimilated into the Empire. Many of the younger generation use the Academy as an excuse to prolong being pulled into the Empire or set free to try to take care of themselves rather than become part of the Imperial labor force. Some who are close to retirement go with the Empire rather than realize their fate staying with the Republic where they end up with nothing for retirement because it is rumored that the Senate Republic may eventually be dissolved. For some, time is short and going with the Empire until retirement is an option, not a good option but an option none-the-less. Many of the residence of each planet have moved to an Imperial occupation rather than make a go of it on their own planet knowing that there really won't be much left on the planet as far as jobs go. What they don't realize is that the Empire really doesn't have a retirement plan. Those who are too old to work tend to be… dispensed with. The Jedi see what is happening but have not become influential enough to be able to convince people that going with the Empire, as difficult as it is, is wrong and dangerous.

A young almost human droid girl by the name of **Exit** becomes secretary to one of the Imperial Government officials. She is eventually moved to a Star Destroyer with the official and ordered to serve him there, she is not pleased, the official fires her as she makes her feeling known. For a time she waitresses for a small restaurant on the planet of Basilisk. She made friends there but was unable to make ends meet and eventually was forced to go back with the Empire as was the case for many, the Empire made it almost impossible for anyone to make a go of it where they were, they convinced enough people to join the Empire leaving the planets barren. Exit worked for the Empire but she only did what she had to since she was secretly not an advocate.

Ian was working hard for the Corellian's. In fact an unknown visitor from the Empire came and presented documentation for another space station similar to the original. Ian recognized these but they had been modified and enhanced since the older requests. Ian worked feverishly on the blueprints for the Empire. They were past back and forth between Ian and the representative; amendments and improvements were on-going. Eventually Ian put two and two together and realized that the Empire were the ones causing all of the trouble around the galaxy. It still really didn't affect him or the Corellians so he didn't pay much mind to it. One day news that the Corellian government was considering turning its power over to the Empire got Ian's attention. He really didn't care what the Empire was doing but he didn't want to be affiliated with an organization that was receiving bad press. Ian had a very influential position with the Corellian government and this concerned him and the planets reputation as continuing to be the foremost authority in Ship Building. During meetings of the high government concerning the Corellian business status which was almost all the meetings, Ian would often protest and raise his own concerns about the change. His opinion was often shot down as hyperbole and his position was often threatened if he were to persist. In the mean time, he continued to work on the blueprints for the Imperial Space station. At first it had taken on much of the same design as the Trade Federation ships but on a much larger scale. The Imperial contacts between Ian and Corellia were not satisfied, the Corellian government did not approve of his ideals. Eventually Ian went with a different design which actually solved a multitude of problems. A spherical design which ended up making the station as large as a small moon. There were two other problems with the design, propulsion and defensibility. Ian found it difficult to find a system large enough to propel the large station. It was a space station, why did it have to move? But according to the Empire, it had to and it had to move fairly fast. Ian went to many of the Outer rim planets and planetary systems to find technology. Most of the planets he visited didn't seem to have what he was looking for. He began to visit some of the planets that weren't named on the galactic map. Planets that took weeks, sometimes months to get to. Eventually he visited a planet called **Ubbal**. It took Ian two months and four days to reach Ubbal. The only reason he had gone there was that it was rumored to have some high tech equipment. During his visit to Ubbal he was able to tour some of the more technical facilities. But they still weren't what he was looking for. Some of the Engineers and designers on **Ubbal** had heard rumor that there was another planet, not part of the galaxy, not easy to get to. It would take another two months to reach it. It was not on any map and getting there was only rumored as well. Ian followed the rumored coordinates and set out for this planet. The rumored name of the planet was **Magus**. As Ian reached the somewhat unreliable coordinates, the planet was where it was rumored to be. It was clear to Ian that he was outside the known galaxy. No communication into space or for that matter around the planet itself. The planet was larger than most and covered by a red haze that seemed to act as a barrier or force shield to outside influences. Ian was at a loss as to how to approach and without any sort of communication, not sure where to land or who to talk to if there was anyone to talk to at all. And then, did any of them speak his language? There was, however, a huge ship, it was sizable compared to the planet itself and it seemed to orbit the planet. It was not detected on any of Ian's sensors and the only reason he noticed it was because when it got close, it cast a shadow through his front window. There was no way to communicate with the ship. And for that matter, no one to communicate with. The ship was gargantuan, large enough, Ian thought, to house most of the people on the planet.

Comparison

An ark maybe? It seemed devoid of viewing access on the outer hull until Ian was close enough to see millions of windows. It seemed devoid of any type of compartments for weapons and such. But Ian also knew that just because he couldn't see any weapons didn't mean they didn't exist. It did have some sort of bridge or cockpit but where the view window would normally be was completely covered no apparent way to see forward. The bridge was very small compared to the rest of the vessel. The ship had sort of an oval shape, rounded at the edges, an obvious front and a back. It did have a propulsion system though not really evident, it did seem to be pushed along by something. According to Ian's readouts, it had some sort of heat signature indicating propulsion and an opening at the back of the vessel for exhaust venting. No apparent way to enter or exit the ship. At great risk, he moved his ship even closer to the huge alien vessel though it didn't seem dangerous. He noticed what could have resembled a vent of sorts though what ship would have a vent into space, there was no air. As he got closer to it he realized that it was so large in size that one of the Star Destroyer's he designed could have fit inside it. He passed through the vent and worked his way toward the inside of the ship. It had a great propulsion system though it didn't seem to be being used accept to power the electronics inside of it. It orbited its planet based on the proper distance and gravitational pull. Ian knew that in order for the beings to keep space from coming in, there would be no obvious entry way into the ship itself. As he past further into the ship he began to see lights. The light emanated from what were apparent residences, labs or offices. But it would take some time to get close enough to see inside these residences if that was even possible. He then noticed a break in the skin of the vessel. A means to an opening of sorts, it actually began to open. A large bright flair, Ian was sure this was the end of him but when the flair dissipated nothing had happened to him, he looked himself over, surely it had scorched him or something. After a moment he realized that nothing had changed, it was simply something that was visible from his shuttle. Ian had to adjust his ships harmonics in order to detect anything on his instruments. Adjusting harmonics was something you almost never did and was often done by the ship designer when it was done. The opening was closed but Ian was still convinced that they knew he was there. Another bright flair, he had to shield his eyes this time but the bright light didn't concern him as much this time. Although Ian assumed that his harmonic adjustments had surely triggered something this time but again when the flair faded, nothing had happened, no indication that he had been detected. There was, this time, something there before the but not after. His computers apparently had recorded nothing so he wasn't sure. His sensor harmonics detected something for a moment and then after the flair there was nothing. Ian remained inside the vessel for days but nothing transpired, he was running low on fuel and supplies. He was about to leave the vessel when he noticed a large cube shaped object floating in space. He hadn't noticed the opening but apparently it had opened and closed. No propulsion in the cube itself, no windows, only a garage like hatch that his readjusted sensors detected on one side of the cube. Then something in the wall of the great vessel opened up, no indicator that there was an opening but two large laser like objects appeared. Ian watched, when the laser like objects fired a bright beam of light at the cubical object, it began to glow. Suddenly a bright light appeared blinding Ian again, when the light was gone Ian was able to uncover his eyes. The laser like objects were retracting back into the inside of the vessel and when he looked down the cube was gone. He waited a little longer, a day past, nothing happened. His fuel and supplies were running dangerously low, he could wait no longer, he exited the vessels vent and headed back for the galaxy.

When he arrived at Corellia and entered his apartment there were people waiting for him. He recognized two of them, they were government officials, his bosses, the other eight he didn't know. They were rather swarthy looking people in a uniform of sorts. Ian stopped at the entrance to his apartment, paused and then went in further. He was shocked to say the least but he tried to hide it.

"Ian," His boss, **Volts Hyperlast** opened.

"Volts," Ian replies trying not to sound suspicious.

"Ian, these people are from the First Galactic Empire. They're interested in some of the designs you've come up with for ships." Volts says.

"The First Galactic Empire, aren't they the ones interested in building a space station." Ian asks.

"Yes, we are." **Leo Mantisa** steps up. Normal looking but in a very well pressed uniform. "I'm Commander **Leo Mantisa** , I originated the plans."

Ian looks at him not speaking for a moment, he then notices a particularly strangely dressed man, with some sort of war paint on his face. The man was dressed in a black robe, strange shoes, a pronounced collar, several necklaces with pendants Ian had never seen and red and white paint or even tattoo's of a sort on his face. There was something quite commanding about him, he seemed to glow a bit, though the others stood around him sort of protecting or shielding him.

"The idea for the Space Station are… inspired. Said Ian.

"Thank you." Leo replied.

"How can I help you?" Ian asks.

"We were wondering if you would like to come with us. See our new ship building facility," **Sitau Siln** another Uniformed man asks.

Ian pauses again, not sure what to say. He fumbles for words, "I… I have a lot of work to do."

 **Enoban Thul** , the other of Ian's bosses, who was also one of the high commanders of the Corellian government speaks up, "Oh, Ian, we can put your other work on hold. I think you should go."

Ian is nervous but has to think. "I… well, alright, can I take a moment to… look over my schedule, there may be something important there?"

"Of course Ian." Volts answers

"It's in my other room, on my main computer." Ian replies.

They make way for Ian to enter the other room in his apartment. In the back of Ian's mind he is very alarmed and wonders how he is going to get away without anyone seeing him. He is determined to go back to Magus as soon as possible. When he enters the other room, the door automatically slides closed behind him, he was alone for the moment. He looks around the room, an air vent in the ceiling. Maybe just big enough for him to slip into. Heat came from the vent and the duct work was narrow at best. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out an object that allows him to loosen the mechanism that holds the vent closed. Ian pops the vent open, he carefully and quietly hoists himself up into it, it's hot and he barely fits. It dawns on him that the vent entrance will be hanging open. He hears a noise, the vent has closed itself behind him, spring activated no doubt. As best he can he begins to push himself through the ventilation system. The men in his apartment are standing, waiting for him. One of the Corellian government officials looks over at the strangely dressed man and smiles a little, the man does not smile back, then the strangely dressed man speaks up, his voice is altered, it's deep and commands attention.

"We should check the room, I sense that there is no one in there." Darth Plagueis comments.

"I… how would you know that?" Volts asks, but he is immediately hushed and one of the Uniformed men knocks on the door, no answer.

Darth Plagueis springs to life, he pulls his light saber out, ignites it and quickly and efficiently cuts a hole in the door. Regardless of the red hot dripping metal, Darth Plagueis and several of the other uniformed men run in. The room is as Darth Plagueis sensed it, empty. Volts and Enoban walk in, Darth Plagueis looks over at them they look back at him, the two Corellian officials sense that he may be the last thing they ever look at.

Another helpless planet **Alitsis,** a planet that has resisted the Empire, isabout to be victimized by the Empire. The Empire surrounds Alitsis with a fleet of Star Destroyers. The people on Alitsis know of the Empires presents but are not prepared for the onslaught that they assume awaits them. The people send pleas to the Imperial ships but receive no return response from the Empire. They finally have no choice but to relent and let the Empire come to the surface to begin recruiting members to their work force. Alitsis has a contingent of human's that the Empire particularly wanted because of their high level of intelligence. Their civilization is not that advanced but many around the galaxy believe they will be at some time in the near future. What the Empire wasn't ready for was their level of resistance, a rebellion of sorts. The Empire came to the planet hoping to strong arm this civilization. Though many of the Alitsis were killed, they kept on coming, almost willing to die rather than be governed by the Empire. The Alitsis civilization seemed to feel that their resistance would be a deterrent of its own. That enemies of this race would eventually tire of the Alitsis patriotism and leave well enough alone. That somehow, the Alitsis were a patriotic people and that their patriotism would be their defense. This attitude only served to irritate the higher ranking officials in the Empire. The Empire has eventually decided it doesn't want the male population from Alitsis for the Imperial work force. They decide to make an example of this planet for other planets in the system to see, incase those planets are thinking of resisting. The government officials on Alitsis don't know what to do, they don't really have the technology but attempt to send an inter-stellar message for help. The Empire begins to charge their weapons. Officials of the Rebellion ships receive the plea as a static laced message and see the weapons charged as well on their computers, they know the people on Alitsishave no way of knowing that the Empire has its weapons charged and is about to fire on them. The Rebels must move quickly if they are to attack the Empire ships before they can fire on the helpless planet. The Imperial ships begin to fire, assets on the planet's surface are being destroyed. The laser pulses are huge and powerful destroying entire buildings at a time. Suddenly Alliance ships begin to appear dropping out of light speed near the Empire ships. The Imperial ships obviously sense this and cease firing. The Alliance ships sense that the Empire is re-training their weapons, smaller Alliance vessels begin spilling out of the larger Alliance ships. They attach themselves to outer hull of the Star Destroyers. Groups of Imperial Soldiers are sent to several of the places where the Alliance ships have attached on the other sides. More and more small Alliance ships continue to leave the Armada ships and attach themselves to the Star Destroyers. The Star Destroyers begin to fire on the small Alliance ships. That's when all hell breaks loose, the Alliance soldiers begin to pierce the hulls of the Star Destroyers attacking like pirates of old. The problem for the Empire ships is that some of the Alliance ships also contain Jedi. The Jedi knights also hop through deflecting laser blasts from the Imperial guns, some back at the Imperial soldiers that fired them. Hundreds of Alliance ships have attached and pierced the sides of the Imperial Star Destroyers. There is only one Sith for all the Imperial ships. The imperial ships were not prepared to be boarded. **Darth Crescentwar** was on the Star Destroyer **Musbedm**. He attempts to fight off the Alliance soldiers that have attacked his ship and is fairly successful until one of the Rebel soldier's calls for Jedi assistance. The Jedi are there in no time in their own ships, they attach to the Alliance ships and enter the Star Destroyer through the hole made in the Alliance ship. Darth Crescentwar is suddenly just defending himself, he escapes with his life after the Jedi come in and begin attacking him. He hides and now the Jedi and the Rebel soldiers are free to continue their invasion.

"Are there more Sith on board?" Asks one Jedi.

"Not that I can sense." Replies another.

Some of them, the Rebel soldiers that did not have Jedi accompanying them, get out-numbered by the Imperial Soldiers and have to escape back to their ships which detach themselves from the Star Destroyers leaving perfectly round holes where they were, allowing space to come in before emergency shields can block the openings. The small Alliance vessels proceed back to the larger ships of the Armada. The Star Destroyers are tainted now but still attempt to fire on the small ships. The larger Armada ships fire on the Star Destroyers disabling many of their weapons leaving them unable to fire. The Star Destroyers are well armed and have very powerful deflector shields. None are heavily damaged by the larger Alliance ships but have to begin to turn tail and run or eventually suffer enough laser blasts to disable their shields and be destroyed. The Star Destroyers that now contain Jedi are not fairing as well. Between the Jedi and the Rebel soldiers, some of the Star Destroyers are slowly but surely falling to the Alliance. Some of the rebel force along with Jedi, make their way to the main bridges of the Star Destroyers, the officers on the bridges try to fight but are easily cut down. Two Star Destroyers fall into Rebel Alliance hands, the men on board are taken prisoner. Some of the other Imperial ships have their deflector shields disabled; then, just as suddenly the rest of the Jedi and the Rebel soldiers run back to their ships, detach and head back for the Armada, every time a Rebel ship detaches, protective shields must cover the holes. This takes a few seconds, many of the Imperial soldiers and Storm Troopers are sucked out into space as planned by the Alliance. The Empire thinks that they've taken back their vessels only to realize, too late, that their many of their shields have been disabled. The larger Armada ships take advantage and heavily damage or obliterate the Star Destroyers. The Alliance ships then jump back to light speed and disappear, two of the Star Destroyers are also commandeered and taken back as war spoils with the Rebels. Soon many of the Empire ships are left at the mercy of space, damaged to the point of not being able to fire on **Alitsis** or not being able to move at all. Other Imperial ships are sent to assist but are only able to rescue not to defend. They leave quickly with their tails tucked between their legs.

Back on Corellia Darth Plagueis is furious. There are other Sith and Empire Officers with him.

"We must, we must have that ship builder. He is the only one capable of designing the space station that we need. And now, in addition, we need him to incorporate a weapon that will destroy a planet by itself." An angry Darth Plagueis says.

"And what of the Star Destroyers in our fleet your majesty. We have many, have they become useless to the Empire?" An officer asks.

"They will be used for other things. They are still great and powerful but stand in the shadow of the space station." Darth Plagueis says as he contemplates the issue.

Ian scoots along in the ventilation system, almost cooking from the heat. He passes over several offices, none seem occupied. He hears something behind him, it's a small probe, probably looking for him. He has to move fast now, he scoots over an opening leading into an office where an attractive half human half droid sits entering data into a computer. Ian smashes the vent open and climbs out, the droid woman just watches, not startled at all. Ian drops down and closes the vent opening quickly. The probe passes them by.

"My, you're tall aren't you?" The droid woman asks seemingly not disturbed.

Ian is frantic, "They're looking for me."

"Who's looking for you?" She asks.

"Imperials I think, I'll give you anything if you'll hide me." Ian asks.

A knock at the door, she opens it. Darth Plagueis, the other Imperials and Ian's two bosses are at the door. "We are looking for a man."

"So am I." She jokingly responds.

"We think he disappeared in the ventilation system." Volts asks her.

She looks around, looks back at them and smiles, "No one here, I find it hard to believe a regular size man would fit in there anyway." She says.

Darth Plagueis looks around the office himself but doesn't see anything. "He's near, I can feel him, take us to other rooms near this one." He commands the Corellian government officials.

They leave, the door slides closed. Ian climbs out from under the desk. "I can't believe that worked."

"I can't either, the one guy was a Sith, I'm surprised he didn't sense you here." She says.

Ian looks around, "He might have, what's your name?"

"Exit." She replies

"Why would you help me?" Ian asks.

"I really don't like those Imperial guys either. I work for one and he's a creep." She says.

"I'm grateful." Ian says. "Now I have to figure out how to get out of here quickly."

"Follow me, where are you going by the way?" She asks.

"To my ship, dock eleven." Ian replies.

"I'll get you there under one condition." She says.

"Anything." Says Ian.

"You look me up when you can, I have to get out of here too." She says.

Ian agrees, she peeks out the door, no one is around. She signals him to follow her, they cautiously make their way down several corridors until they come to the space platform where Ian set his ship down. Darth Plagueis and his entourage are down another hall when Darth Plagueis has another premonition, he stops obviously sensing something. He quickly directs everyone to the landing platform, they all turn and run that way. When Ian and Exit get to the platform where his ship is, there is a guard. When they try to get past him, he stops them. He is about to question them when he gets a call on his communicator. He holds his hand up to his ear as to make sure he hears correctly, Ian knows what message he's getting. Ian waits for the guard to confirm his suspicions but before the guard can react, Ian has him in a bear hug squishing him! Ian tries to muscle the guard down but the guard is too wiry. Ian ends up on top of him and has no choice but to disable the guard. Ian strikes the guard incapacitating him, then he puts the guard in a head lock and proceeds to choke him to death. Exit is watching and tries to stop Ian by crying at him before he can follow through but it's too late, the guard's arms go limp.

"Wow, I can't believe you just did that." Exit says.

Ian looks at himself, pauses and says, "I can't either."

Ian grabs her hand and pulls her into the landing platform room. They dash towards his ship. When they arrive at it, he pulls out a fob of sorts and presses something on it opening a hatch. He climbs in. They say their last goodbyes, she backs up and he takes off. Still low on fuel and supplies, he makes for his old home on _**Devaron**_. He goes to the Stalrif's, there is no one home, he breaks in, cleans out the food stores and makes for a fueling station. Upon arrival at the fueling station he produces a chit with what used to have capital from his position on Corellia. He fuels his ship but when he presents the chit to the proprietor the chit comes back zero. The proprietor looks at Ian, he hands the chit back.

"It says zero." Says the proprietor.

Ian doesn't know what to do. He has to move fast, think fast.

"Do you have other forms of capital?" The proprietor asks.

Ian thinks, "No… I don't."

"You wait here, I bring the authorities." The proprietor says.

The proprietor is behind a ray shield, Ian can't get too him. The Imperials will surely find out where he is, he begs the proprietor but the alien ignores him. When he tries to leave to go back to his ship he finds that the doors to the refueling platform are locked. He's a prisoner, a sitting duck for the Empire when they find him there. He's a genius, there has to be a way for him to escape. Authorities come to the refueling station, Ian is taken into custody, put in shackles and transported to a post on his home planet where he is remanded to a holding cell. Once inside, Ian looks around, but sees nothing. The room is devoid of windows, panels, wall plates and vents. There is only one way in or out. A small buzzing sound, a virtual screen appears above the only table in the room. One of the Authorities appears and asks Ian if he has representation, Ian tells the man that he does not. The virtual screen disappears followed by another buzzing noise. He sits, then he gets up and begins feeling around the walls, nothing. He calls out…

"Excuse me, can I talk to someone?" Ian asks the air.

The buzzing noise comes again and an authority appears on a virtual screen again.

"What is it?" The authority alien asks.

"I work on Corellia, maybe someone there can help." Ian replies knowing he can't really go back..

The screen disappears followed by the buzzing noise again. This time, Ian almost pinpoints the sounds. It comes from a tiny pin size hole in the wall. Ian looks around the room, they've stripped him of everything? He looks at the chair, he supposed they figured he couldn't do any harm with that. If he tried to hit someone with it, they'd be ready and then he'd be in even bigger trouble. Besides, his hands were still shackled. He thinks, then he picks up the chair and puts it behind his back. Surely they'd be watching so he would have to move fast. He takes the chair with his shackled hands and smashes it into the wall where the small hole is, the wall cracks. He knows they'll be onto him now, he takes the chair and smashes it into the wall again, this time a piece of the wall falls out. There are electrical components there. Surely there must be a connection from the buzzer to the screen. And where there's a connection to the screen there must be something that controls the automatic door. He looks, nothing. When they come in Ian is sitting on the chair. He has one chance, he fights the two men that come after him. He's strong but not a fighter by any means. He gets out, closes the door, smashes a panel on the outside of the room jamming the door and adjusts something inside the panel locking the two officers in the room.

"Dang, it worked." Ian says to himself surprised.

Ian tries the door to the outside but it's locked. He notices a control panel, all that is on it is a key pad. He pries the key pad panel open, looks, reaches in and before long the door to the outside slides open. The door to the cell is beginning to open, he makes a mad dash out the door, finds one of the authority ships and climbs in. And not a moment too soon, one of the Imperial shuttles, that he designed, lands. Darth Plagueis and several Imperial officers disembark. The two authority aliens make their way out of the cell really none the worse for wear, they explain to the Imperials what happened. They all assume that he didn't have time to steal a ship so he must be somewhere near the building. As they branch out to look for him, the Imperial shuttle hatches close, comes to life and flies off but not before turning its guns on the remaining Authority ships still on the platform to make sure they won't follow. The Authority men and the Empire men including Darth Plagueis dive for cover. In the wake of the shuttle, everyone comes out from hiding.

"I've got to learn how to use the Dark-Side to pin-point my senses." Says Darth Plagueis to himself.

Ian still doesn't have supplies but the shuttles fuel gauge indicates full. And it holds more than his own ship did. They would be looking for him but they wouldn't find him where he was going. Supplies… Ian sets the ship to fly automatically and begins wandering around the ship looking to see if there is any food. He finally finds a few bottles of water and some energy bars but there is nothing else. He's determined, he continues to fly toward the edge of the galaxy and beyond to the planet of Magus where he was before, he is too determined to think about getting more supplies. Days go by, the food and water are long gone. Ian knows he has to get food before finishing the long jaunt to Magus. As he's looking for a place that might have supplies an Imperial ship identifies him. It's big and probably has a small galley on it. He disguises his voice in an attempt to sound Imperial or at least not like himself, he calls to them.

"This is commander Schmidt of the Shuttle Pratt. The prisoner landed on a nearby planet and tried to get supplies. We tried to apprehend him but he resisted and we had to kill him." Ian says in an attempt to fool the other ship.

A pause, then, "Do you have the prisoners body with you?" A voice from the other ship asks.

"Yes, the body is here." Ian replies.

Ian waits, they may have found him out.

"Where is the other ship?" The other voice asks.

"Destroyed. We had the prisoner on board when it happened. He obviously didn't want us to find whatever he was hiding. He fought, we had to kill him." Ian replies.

"We detect no residual objects." Says the voice.

"Different location, we traveled until we met you here." Replies Ian hoping they'll go for it.

Another pause. "We'll need confirmation, can you come aboard?" The other voice asks.

"Affirmative." Ian says wondering what he's going to do once on board the other vessel.

The Imperial transport opens a hatch at its lower side. Ian flies the shuttle in, the hatch closes under him and he sets down. He can see that his trick didn't work, soldiers quickly approach the shuttle with weapons in hand. He has to think fast, the shuttle lifts off again. The Imperial soldiers look up at the shuttle, then they begin firing. Ian arms the weapons on the shuttle and fires killing off most of the soldiers. The rest duck for cover, Ian sees the men in the command center. They will surely take control of the shuttle and maneuver it manually, Ian fires at the command center. Everyone in it is killed before they can take control, the explosion is huge. He feels the remaining soldiers firing on him from underneath. He turns the shuttle with what little room he has and fires on the remaining soldiers. When he stops firing, there is no one in site. He's willing to bet there are more men waiting for him. He turns the shuttle and fires on accesses to the bay. The accesses are built with heavy doors; the shuttle can't damage them without firing constantly for several minutes. Unsure of what else to do, he lands the shuttle. He looks around, no one is coming. He opens the shuttle back hatch, he grabs an Imperial rifle and carefully moves down the ramp ready to make a fast break back into the shuttle if something happens. There are Imperial Soldiers lying dead all over, he notices a man dressed as a pilot lying dead. Surely there must be more men. He cautiously moves toward one of the accesses to the rest of the ship. Covered with blast marks but still intact. He opens it, sure that someone would be waiting but no one is. He makes his way down several corridors. He accesses a computer panel to locate the galley, he finds the galley; no one seems to be around. Apparently the ship just had a small complement of men and was piloted by just the one man. Ian begins taking food back to the shuttle with the use of a transport droid. He thinks about taking the ship but doesn't want to look too obvious and the shuttle is plenty big enough to use for what he needs. He finally finishes loading the last of the food. He exits down the ramp one more time to make sure that he hasn't forgotten anything when he is met by a single Imperial Storm Trooper with a rifle pointed at him, Ian drops his rifle.

"Please… make it quick." Ian tells the trooper.

The Storm Trooper lowers his weapon and takes off his helmet. "I… I don't… I'm not going to shoot you."

The man inside the Storm Trooper uniform looks normal, just a man.

Ian is shocked, "You… you're not?"

"Just leave me with this ship, I'll use it to escape." The trooper says.

"Escape… from what?" Ian asks.

"The Empire, some of us don't want to be part of it. I have a wife and two kids waiting for me, hiding." The man says.

Ian looks at him and smiles. "Do you want to come with me?"

"No, I just want to go back to my family but… thanks." The man says.

"What if they catch you?" Ian asks.

"I'll just have to take that chance. You have a shuttle, please, leave me." He asks.

"I wish you the best of luck, what about food?" Ian asks as he offers the man what he has in hand.

"I'll eat when I get to my family." The man answers.

Ian smiles at the man, picks up the rifle, walks back up the ramp, closes it and lifts off. The man goes back inside the main part of the ship and closes the access door behind him. Soon the large doors below the Shuttle open and Ian flies out. Still not sure that the Storm Trooper was on the level, he watches the ship from a screen in front of him. Soon the ship begins to move and shortly jumps to light speed.

"Someone is watching out for me." Ian says to himself. He sets coordinates in his shuttle computer and flies off, tanks full and supply stores at max.

Several months go by before he reached Magus, the galaxy is behind him, space in front of him but is void of stars, dark and vast. He can see other galaxies in the distance but Magus was not part of those either. It would actually take him several more months to reach another galaxy at Light Speed even though he can see them from his ship. He guides the shuttle toward the lonely planet. The huge ship finally re-appears. He guides the shuttle into the large vent and proceeds to the coordinates where he was before where he witnessed the cube being vaporized. He is in luck, one of the cubes is floating out into the ships ventilation area. And sure enough, the large lasers appear and fire on the cube vaporizing it. Ian is shocked but then again something about the cube being vaporized seems strange to him. Usually when something was vaporized, there was residual elements, even microscopic sometimes but the shuttles sensors, better than the ones on his ship, detected nothing. The lasers seemed to vaporize everything including any residual elements. That was impossible he thought, unless… there were two possibilities. One, he was witness to a new undocumented civilization so they may have invented a way to vaporize something without leaving a trace. If the Empire ever found out about that… The other possibility was that the cubes weren't being vaporized at all, it was a form of transport. He scanned the area, no trace of anything that would indicate a process of transference. He goes back and reviews the recordings, all good scientists' record major events. He sits viewing the recordings and scanning them as he watches. There! It was almost too small to see, digital arrows pointed at it. A small beam emitting from one of the lasers that pointed down toward the planet. In fact, if his eyes weren't fooling him, the beam went through the red haze. The cube was gone in the recordings and must have been sent down the beam, that was the only thing that made sense. He would risk it, he would latch on to a cube. Ian new exactly where the shuttle attachment controls were because he designed the shuttle. If the Empire was using his design for the shuttle, what other designs of his were they using for their dastardly deeds?

He waits several days, his supplies are running low again. He was trying to conserve but he was getting very hungry and thirsty. He calculated that he would be able to last a couple more days. Eventually he would have to return to his galaxy to find more food. But he also knew that when he did, his pursuers would be waiting for him. And even if he had the power he did not have the strength or where-with-all to evade them. Death was sure, one way or another. Finally, on the morning of what he would have considered to be his last day, a cube appeared. He set his auto-sequencer to fly down and latch onto the cube. If his hypothesis was correct, in theory, when the laser transfer was made, he and his shuttle would be transferred with it. Or he would be vaporized into non-existence. The shuttle flew in and latched on. The large lasers appear and fire. When he came to, he was on what he assumed was the planet surface. He was burnt, exhausted and the shuttle was destroyed but he was alive. Several of the planets species were standing around looking down at him, Ian passes out.

 **Imperial Admiral Arnothian** sits at a panel aboard a Star Destroyer. He punch's some things into a keyboard in front of the panel and reviews what's written, which appears in a different language. "How did they know they could attack us from the inside?" He asks himself in thought. "I would have thought that most ship captains and warriors would think that the hull was too thick to penetrate."

Darth Plagueis comes up behind him. The Admiral knows he's there but doesn't turn around. "With a Light Saber Admiral." Plagueis volunteers.

"A Light Saber?" The Admiral questions.

The Admiral turns around to look at the Sith Lord. Darth Plagueis pulls his Light Saber from its sheath and ignites it, he waves it around so that it hums when it passes through the air as he himself watches it, then smiles. "Amazing isn't it." Darth Plagueis says still watching the Saber as he wheels it like a true swordsman.

"I would have never thought they were that powerful." Says the Admiral now watching the Light Saber also.

Darth Plagueis turns quickly and cuts a huge iron table in half behind him! The plating around the table is rather thin but the components inside the table are also cut clean in half and the floor where the Light Saber struck before Darth Plagueis pulled it back, had a deep crevasse where it hit, in the shape of the tip of the Light Sabers beam. Darth Plagueis turns the Light Saber off and sheath's it. The Admiral is amazed at how clean the cut was and how it basically cut through everything it came in contact with.

"A Sith, or a Jedi's Light Saber is his best friend Admiral. And make no mistake, the Jedi are just as agile with one as are the Sith, they will see you coming before you know it and if they hit you with their Light Sabers at full power, you will cease to exist. The Light Saber will ignite your entire body and destroy it in an instant." Says Plagueis.

"I have heard of its destructive force in battle but I have not seen it until now." The Admiral adds.

"A light Saber is an extension of its wheeler. Though an electronic device, it is the source of the Sith or Jedi's power." Darth Plagueis says.

"Behind the Force of course?" The Admiral adds.

"The Force is what makes the Wheeler of a Light Saber so dangerous. The Force guides the Wheelers hand, the Light Saber is part of the Force." Darth Plagueis preaches.

"But not all of the Rebel ships had Jedi." The Admiral suggests.

"A good Jedi, can be in two places at the same time." Suggests Darth Plagueis.

"Can you?" The Admiral asks.

Darth Plagueis' Silhouette fades in opacity. He speaks again but from outside of the room. The door to the room slides open. The Admiral sees Darth Plagueis walk in through the door. Then the figure that walked in the door fades in opacity. Darth Plagueis is back in his original position.

"Amazing, isn't it Admiral?" Plagueis asks. "And one can use the Force to manipulate the thinking of the weak minded. Sith call it **Sallaros** the Jedi call it… The Jedi mind trick.

The Admiral turns quickly to see that Plagueis is now standing where he was.

"Truly." The Admiral says.

Darth Plagueis continues on with the Admiral. For certain, someone had to know where on the Star Destroyers to attach and pierce the hull, the Admiral sees his logic. They continue to ponder and discuss the situation.

Yoda is in a trance. As we look into his thoughts, a Star Destroyer comes into view, Yoda had used the Force to see the layout of the large vessels. Since he was not sensing anyone that knew the ways of the Force, his telepathies went unnoticed. Several other Jedi sit around Yoda, also in a trance. Yoda is teaching them how to use the Force to reach out through space, to see inside material objects. He hasn't taught them how to read minds yet.

Darth Plagueis now sits entranced, pondering the secrets of the Dark-side. As we look into his thoughts we see that he is trying to uncover the ability to manipulate life… itself. The Force, good or bad, will not let anyone take away a life simply by stopping their heart. It does however, allow one to manipulate, move if you will, a person's body or even worse, set it afire. Difficult to do if the person is not near you unless one is a master of manipulating it. It allows one to sense danger, even eminent danger. To produce a reaction to someone's movements before they even know that they're going to move themselves. Even something as small as pulling a trigger or as large as striking with a Light Saber. Darth Plagueis sees that, though there is no barrier to bringing someone back to life, if their life force isn't gone completely, if there is a way to use the Force to bring someone back to life after they've been dead awhile, even he does not know, though he is close to unlocking the secret. His thoughts proceed deeper. The way to animate someone back to the living is becoming apparent to him but the Dark Side stops him before he can see the secret, he is brought out of the trance. Yoda sees Darth Plagueis' thoughts. Yoda knows how to do this but he's not going to let on. He knows about reviving the dead because he had to do something similar when he transported from his own Galaxy to this one to chase after the Sith seven-hundred years ago. Sith in the past were able to do it but the practice was lost with time. And thank God for that.

The Jedi all come out of the trance.

"Master Yoda, you were somewhere else for a moment." A Jedi asks.

"Yes, into Darth Plagues' thoughts I went." Says Yoda.

"Would he not know you were there master?" Another Jedi asks.

"Not if, hidden in the Force I was. But careful you must be, if into someone else's thoughts you go, hidden you must be." Replies Yoda.

"Teach us how to hide ourselves in the Force master." Another Jedi asks.

"Reveal this to you, the Force will soon but only when it is time." Replies Yoda.

The other Jedi don't question this, they know that the Force does indeed reveal things when the time is right, when one has learned what he must, to control that power in the Force. One of the Jedi asks Yoda what he saw. Yoda replies that he saw Darth Plagueis wondering. Wondering who or how the Rebels and the Jedi knew where to attach the ships during their last invasion. Yoda then told the other Jedi that the Empire would be ready for such an attack the next time. They would have to attack different the next time.

"See the plans of their next attack, we must." Says Yoda.

But Darth Plagueis has not revealed his plan yet, the rebels were fortunate the last time. Yoda was able to read a Sith's mind which got them close to where the attack was so that they were able to respond quickly, they would not be so lucky next time.

When Ian wakes up, he is fastened, restrained to a table. Not a comfortable gurney like on his planet in a hospital ward. He is obviously in a medical facility of some sort. He looks around hoping that he is not the subject of an autopsy to see how he ticks. One of the non-human species comes up beside him, the specie looked similar to a **Shi'ido** but clearly was not, his head was more… human like, only the body looked somewhat like Shi'ido. No elephant like snout, just a face personality and smile a lot friendlier.

The Magus specie utters Ian's last name but the sound is animal like and not perceptible to Ian, Ian understands what the creature is trying to say, a friendly gesture at least for now. Ian points to himself though is arms are trapped by restraints.

"Ian… Ian Bartholomew." Ian attempts to convey.

The creature is obviously inspired, its eyes go wide and it rushes out of the room. It comes back into the room several moments later with some sort of device. It flips a switch on the device and a Human voice comes out of it. "Bartholomew…" It repeats the word several times. "Bartholomew… Bartholomew."

Ian responds with a smile. "Yes," he points to himself. "Ian… Ian Bartholomew."

The creature plays the recording again. "Bartholomew… Bartholomew."

Ian then realizes that though the voice saying his name, is not, his own voice that he's hearing in the recording, or the creatures.

"Who… who is that?" Ian asks the creature.

The creature clearly does not know what Ian is trying to ask. Ian tries to point but his hand is restrained, the creature releases Ian's hands. Ian points to the machine and does a "what" gesture. The creature leaves again, this time for awhile, Ian lies back down and closes his eyes.

When he wakes the next time, he is in the same room but has been moved to a chair-like platform and all his restraints are gone. His eyes are failing him but he attempts to look around the room. He sees three of the creatures, each one a little different. He notices that each of them has a distorted right arm which is muscular to the extreme. Then his eyes scan back to a human, an older man, dressed like the rest of the species, long grey hair and beard. The human walks over smiling.

"I have not spoken your language in a long time, please forgive me." Says the Human.

Ian thinks a moment, then speaks, "No… you're doing fine, I understand you."

"Your second name, it is Bartholomew?" The human asks.

Ian thinks again, "Yes. I'm Ian Bartholomew."

The human thinks now, "Where… are you from?"

Ian has to think, "I don't… I don't know. I mean, I don't know where I originated"

"Did you know your… mother?" The human asks.

Ian thinks, "Not my… real mother. I didn't know the woman who gave birth to me."

The human speaks into a device while looking at one of the Magusian species in the room. The human man repeats what Ian said into the device. The Magusian man nods his head in the affirmative and smiles.

The human looks at Ian again, he pauses before he speaks. "My second… last name… is Bartholomew. If I remember correctly my first name is… Renn."

Ian thinks, "I… I don't know anyone named… Renn. Why do you say this?"

The human man repeats Ian's question into the device while looking at one of the Magusian men again. The Magusian man smiles and nods his head again.

"I… believe, you might be a relation, possibly even… my son." Says Renn.

Ian's eyes go wide.

"How… many…" Ian Interrupts Renn.

"…Forty-five years old."

Renn calculates in his head for a moment. "Yes, that is a long time for you… is it not?"

Ian thinks, "Yes, I suppose it is."

Renn goes on to explain that his wife, possibly Ian's mother, died after Ian was born. Renn was attacked by the Trade Federation because of his own ship designs, he was a good designer but when the Trade Federation tried to find him again he had to leave the planet. It was about fifty years ago. Renn is now eighty-four or as best he can remember. He goes on to explain that the Trade Federation found him again, so he jumped in a ship and flew away. He was able to escape but the Trade Federation caused irreparable damage his ship. He was stranded. Renn tells Ian that he had run out of supplies and fuel and was adrift in space near the edge of the galaxy when they found him. The Magusian's were exploring. They had some pretty good technology but after some time they figured out that Renn was quite the brilliant ship designer. Renn then taught them how to design ships. He taught them many scientific engineering techniques. Their scientists were savvy and good learners. They figured out how to break down the cubes into molecular parts and then molecularly transport the cubes and then a computer re-assembles them upon arrival. Renn explained that during the molecular transport, the cube protects the people even though they are broken down molecularly also. For the first time, they were able to escape from the cloud when ship creation was difficult for such a purpose, from that point they could transport anything that fit in the cubes. He explained to Ian that the ship Ian was in, was destroyed by the transporter rays. Ian was exposed to the strange cloud that surrounded the planet and had to be nursed back to health or the gases from the cloud would have killed him. Ian asked Renn about the huge ship. It was, of course too large to build on the planet's surface and there was no way for them to transport it through the cloud without someone getting poisoned or without destroying something in the process. The ship was a lot smaller when it started but the Magusian's began to extend research to others from the planet and they began to research the strange cloud. The research continues. The reason the ship is so large now is twofold. First, it had to be large enough to house all the families that did the research. And two, the Magusian's assumed that the planet would eventually implode on itself and they needed something large enough to house the rest of the families in the event that, that might happen.

"I tried to explain to them that planets last a long time, but they weren't convinced." Renn exclaimed.

Ian laugh's a little.

Renn then tells Ian that there was another on board. It was a female but not human. She was damaged during the transport but the ship protected her to some extent. Ian knew who he was talking about, Exit!

"Is she ok?" Ian asks.

"Yes, I put her back together. She is quite amazing, she has the ability to think like a human but she is almost all machine. Some of her parts, very specific parts, are actually human, it was difficult to reconstruct some of that, someone in your galaxy figured out how to support parts of the human body and re-animate them on a mechanical body. I don't remember ever having the ability to make a machine think like a human or to reanimate human parts." Said Renn.

Ian knew, it had to be Exit. She must have stowed away on his ship. Strange that he did not detect her. "Where is she?"

"She waits, outside this room. She waits for you." Replies Renn.

"Please, can you bring her in?" Ian asks.

Renn speaks into the device while looking at one of the Magusian's, repeating Ian's question. Their mouths do not move. Ian determines that they must communicate through telepathy. The device that Renn speaks into, changes his language into theirs and sends it through radio waves that act as telepathy to them.

Exit walks into the room. She's beautiful, smiling at Ian. She walks over, "Hey sailor."

"Exit, what are you doing here?" Ian asks.

Exit explains that if she had stayed they surely would have figured out that she helped him escape so she climbed aboard at the last minute. Renn and the rest of the Magusian's leave. Exit sits on a stool next to Ian. "I'm glad you're ok." She says.

Ian looks at her, she was a droid, had she somehow fallen in love with him? He'd never known a droid to do that. Though he had designed many of the droid computer brains to think like humans. Ian called it Idiosyncratic Personalities. But he never thought it was good technology, someone must have improved on it.

Ian ponders a moment, "I… I'm glad you're ok too… I think."

A couple of days later Ian is back to his old self. The Magusian's had good medicine. Ian was walking with Renn. Renn told Ian of how the Magusian's had adopted him. He taught them everything. They didn't have any real good technology or science when he came. They basically lived in huts and cooked over fires in pits. But they were smart and picked up on Renn's abilities quickly. Renn told Ian that when he lived in the Galaxy, no one had invented molecular transport. Ian told Renn that they still hadn't. Ian would want to take this technology with him if he ever went back home. Renn explained how the Magusian's learned the technology behind the lasers that were originally designed as weapons. How when a laser hits something it broke the object down into molecular pieces but the pieces were still organized. The computers they build here became so advanced that they were actually able to rebuild the object. Reanimating beings was a little harder and they had to learn how to do it without it being painful. Ian told Renn about the all the new ships he had designed, the new technology. Ian explained to Renn that he was a designer, engineer, scientist, and a government official for the Corellians.

Renn stops and looks Ian over. "You have got to be my son."

"Could be… there does seem to be a lot of similarities between us." Said Ian.

They walked on further, Renn asked Ian about Exit. How was it that she was so human like, how were they able to preserve human body parts like that. Ian explained that it was a scientific discovery about twenty years ago. A man longing to preserve the love of his life learned to do it. The practice was outlawed for a long time until it could be shown as a safe procedure. Ian himself explained the science behind Idiosyncratic Personalities in droids. That by cross-referencing about a hundred personality traits, the database inside the droid brain could in effect, simulate human behavior. But he had to admit that he'd never seen a droid that acted like Exit. He would have to study this behavior if he ever had the chance.

Then Renn asked Ian a strange question. "Can I trust you?"

"To do what?" Ian asked.

"To protect the Magusian's. To keep this place a secret." Renn asked.

Ian had to think, he thought for a few moments, then answered. "Yes, you can trust me. I will never divulge the where-abouts of this planet. Though I would like to take some of its technological secrets with me."

"I think that would be ok," said Renn, "Come with me."

Ian followed Renn. They moved about on public transportation. They finally arrived at what appeared to be a lab. The Magusian's wandered about like humans, they were part of the facility and had research projects of their own.

Ian looked up, he could see the Red cloud cover that seemed to engulf the planet.

Renn lead Ian down a couple of floors on an elevator of sorts. Then he opened the doors to what was a huge engineering lab. In it was ship technology the likes of which Ian had never seen before. Ships of all sorts, what he determined to be ship engines, guns, computers.

"I wonder… if you could explain some of this to me." Ian asked Renn.

"Of course but it will take some time. You will have to stay and the food," he cringes, "takes some getting used to."

They worked together for days. Renn explained all the technology. He started with the ship engines. They were infallible and more powerful than any Ian had ever seen. Some were huge. Ian perceived that some were so big that they had to be assembled in space. Renn explained the technology behind making the engines so perfect. That the Magusian's were able to see outside the box so to speak and add their own ideas. They were disciplined beings, dedicated to an idea until it came true. Renn had never seen such devotion to science. Renn then showed Ian the weapons. They were perfect also. They never jammed and hardly ever broke down. The technology was relegated to huge clean rooms which were a marvel of technology themselves. And the weapons were ultra powerful. They seemed to have a destructive force that was ten times the destructive capabilities of any weapons Ian had ever seen. And some of them were huge. But the most interesting of all was the computers. They had speed, seemed idiot proof and were able to do things that Ian could only imagine. Like taking a person's thoughts and putting them through an extrapolation process, producing objects that were only part of someone's imagination. The computers were able to predict things. To calculate based on only a few variables. That the computers could be made small and fit into a droids brain. He showed Ian the communication device that he'd invented based on the computer's ability to extrapolate. But the Magusian's were responsible for much of the technology. Renn was amazed at how much Ian understood about all that they had invented.

"I was also running." Said Ian.

"From what?" Asked Renn.

"There's a new faction in the galaxy. They call themselves the First Galactic Empire. They've convinced a lot of people to join them but then there are a lot of people that know the Empire is evil. Ian went on to explain to Renn all that the Empire was doing.

The Magusian's had much of the technology that Ian had been looking for. Highly advanced computers, weapons, propulsion systems and deflector shields. Their ships were huge and it took huge propulsion systems to move them. Renn explained to Ian that they had not invented Hyper drives yet. So Ian explained to Renn that there was hyper drive in the galaxy. He also explained how they could build that kind of technology and adapt it to their ships. Renn was grateful.

"There is one problem though." Renn stopped.

"Isn't there always?" Ian jested.

"Some of the Magusian's believe your being here is bad for them." Says Renn.

"So… you'll convince them to trust me like they trust you." Says Ian.

"I'm the only human on this planet besides you. They've had fifty years to learn to trust me." Says Renn.

"I get it. I really do." Ian says.

"You're getting it doesn't matter, there are those who want to kill you rather than let you go." Said Renn.

"Really?" Ask Ian.

"Ian, they trust me because…" Renn cuts off.

"Because what?" Ian asks.

"Because… I've agreed to never leave." Blurts Renn.

Ian just stands shocked. Renn continues on…

"Exit was interesting to them so they allowed me to put her back together. Ian, they destroyed your ship, it wasn't the transport machine, well actually it was but that's part of the fail safe, all machines are automatically destroyed if they aren't inside the cubes. They don't want you to leave."

"But… I have to." Pleads Ian.

"Yes… you do but you can't." Says Renn.

"I need one of your ships." Ian says.

"I'm pretty sure none of them will fit in the cubes and that's the only way off the planet." Says Renn. "You'll have to build your own."

"Or I could modify one of yours." Says Ian

"Then what?" Asks Renn.

"One thing at a time." Says Ian.

That night Ian is at Renn's living quarters. They're about to go to sleep when they hear a loud bang. They both jump. Renn because he knows what it is. Renn explains that the Magusian's are using their huge arms to pound through the walls. Renn tells Ian to take cover. Renn runs to another room, then quickly comes out. Ian inquires what Renn was doing. He assumed Renn went to get a weapon. Renn explains that they will not allow him to have one. He simply called for help. That's all he could do. Another loud bang. This time, part of the wall caves in. Another bang, the rest of the wall comes down. The angry Magusian's run in. Renn and Ian wrestle with a couple of them but they're huge, powerful and fast. Ian and Renn are easily tossed across the room. More Magusian's run in. Some carry weapons. Ian charges one of them again but is easily tossed away again. A couple of them train their weapons on Ian and Renn who assume this is their last. But just as they're about to be fired upon, good Magusian's come from behind, they fire their weapons into the angry mob. One of the good Magusian's gets into hand to hand combat with another. It's like two lions fighting. The battle is fierce. It is clear to Ian that he would have had no chance with any of them. The good Magusian wins the battle but is bloodied and battered. The other bad Magusian's are gunned down or run off. Renn hears something and picks up his communication device. He looks at Ian.

"They're saying you have to leave. I'm to give you one of my ships." Says Renn.

"I thought you said…" Renn cuts him off.

"…I have one that might fit but it has no weapons. And it's not very fast but it will have to do." Says Renn.

The Magusian's protect them as they run them off to where Renn's lab is. Exit is there. The ship Renn spoke of is fairly non-descript and it would have to be turned on its side to fit into the cube.

"Wait, how do we enter space?" Ian asks.

"When the cube is floating outside the ships entryway, the cube will open. You and Exit will have to be in the ship when the cube opens. It's the only way to protect you from space. You'll have to fly it out sideways." Renn explains.

"What about you? What about the other Magusian's?" Ian asks.

Renn pauses, "None of us are going, you'll have to leave yourselves. We can monitor you from here but there's no way to protect us from space once the cube is opened."

Renn hands Ian a package, then Ian and Exit jump into the ship. The Magusian's push the ship over on its side and push it into one of the cubes. Ian mouths the words through the ships glass. "I'll be back." Renn acknowledges him.

No sooner do they get the cube closed, do the angry Magusian's attack from above, this time with a bigger force. Other good Magusian's arrive just in time in ships to counter the attack. Hopefully the transporter lasers haven't been damaged. The lasers point at the cube and fire. The next thing Ian and Exit know, is that the cube is opening and they're in space in the vent area of the large ship. Ian fires up the engines and with a little scraping, they fly out of the large ship vent and away from the planet.

Exit stands next to Ian, "That was close." She says.

"Too close." Says Ian.

She puts her arms around his neck. He looks up at her a little surprised.

"You don't mind this do you?" She asks.

Ian has to think. "Well… no… I guess not."

"Listen, I may be a robot but they designed me to think like a woman. I need love to." She says.

Ian looks at her again as he maneuvers the ship toward the Galaxy. "I… guess I've really never been approached."

"By a droid?" She asks.

"By any woman." He adds.

She steps back. "None?"

"No, I guess I never really thought about it. Living on Corellia, the women I worked with were co-workers, I was attracted to them but I… just never considered the possibility." Said Ian.

She stands back. She is wearing clothing but I really doesn't cover up much. Her female parts are actually human adaptations and barely covered. "Well, how do I look?"

Ian turns around, he is astounded at how enticing she appears. "Wow, Exit, I can't believe it. I mean, you're a droid but you…"

She sits in his lap and kisses his romantically.

"Exit, I don't know what it's like to kiss a girl but… you elicit emotions in me and as far as I can tell, there's no difference." He says.

"They designed me with real woman parts. Lips too. I doubt I'm as nice as a real woman but I think I can satisfy.

He picks her up cradle style. They kiss again, romantically. They move to the floor. She pulls him on top of her. The rest is left to the imagination.

Darth Plagueis is commanding several legions of Star Destroyers. His son, Darth Sidious is grown more and is with them. They know where Ian left the galaxy. And they're pretty sure they know where he's going to enter. They sit waiting. They have lots of time. As they sit, Yoda, in a different location, senses that Darth Plagueis is waiting for something. But this time Darth Plagueis senses Yoda. Yoda jumps out of his trance. One of the Jedi meditating near him asks him what's wrong. Yoda tells him that Darth Plagueis was ready for him and identified Yoda when he was sensing. Yoda and the Jedi spring into action. One of the Jedi asks Yoda if he knew where Darth Plagueis was. Yoda indicates that because Darth Plagueis detected him, he had to get out of the trance before Plagueis was able to tell. But Yoda also indicates that he knows that Darth Plagueis is waiting for someone and is somewhere at the edge of the galaxy. Yoda dares to try again while the Rebel ships begin a scan of the space around them. Plagueis has a plan. He allows Yoda to reach out to him through the Force. Yoda jumps back again. He indicates that for some reason Darth Plagueis has allowed it. Yoda was able to determine their where abouts. It would take some time to get there. The Rebels head in the direction of Darth Plagueis' fleet. But Yoda is suspicious and goes to Senator Bail Organa to hatch a plan of their own just in case.

As Ian and Exit re-enter the Galaxy they instantly get an alarm indicating the presents of the Imperial Fleet. Ian assumes they must be waiting for him. Darth Plagueis' ship sensors pick up Ian's ship. They are unaware of what kind of ship he will be arriving in but they can do whatever they want. Darth Plagueis issues an order to another part of his fleet to attack another planet as a deterrent to the Rebels.

Yoda and the Rebels are aware of the attack and must supply some assistance. So part of the Rebel fleet breaks off to assist the attacked planet. Now Yoda's Rebel fleet is short which could be a problem. The other Jedi with him re-assure him that it won't but Yoda knows better.

Ian stops his ship. The Imperial ships begin to advance.

"They're not waiting." Ian says.

"Ah oh, we can't out-run them." Exit adds.

"Nope, but we can try." Says Ian.

He turns the ship around and starts to run back. Darth Plagueis believes the fact that he is running is an indicator that it is Dr. Bartholomew indeed. Several of the Star Destroyers speed up in an effort to catch Ian's ship.

Suddenly, Darth Plagueis ships alarms go off. The Rebel ships are near, armed and coming quickly. He sent a couple of Star Destroyers to apprehend Dr. Bartholomew's ship. They will easily over-take him. So Darth Plagueis relaxes and is able to concentrate on fighting off the Rebels. He has also planned to meet the Rebels with a hidden fleet of Star Destroyers and Tie fighters to protect them from the rear. When the Rebels arrive they are met in battle by the rear wave of Imperial ships. Ian's ship isn't equipped with a lot but his ship is equipped with sensors that tell him and Exit that several Star Destroyers are coming after them. The Star Destroyers are almost on them and lock a tractor beam on them. Ian's ship is in no way powerful enough to pull away from the tractor beam. The Empire is pulling them in. Suddenly there is an explosion. The tractor beam breaks loose of them. Several ships, all different and none that Ian had ever seen before are attacking the Empire ships. Some of the ships that save Ian and Exit are large, some are small. All have weapons and are advancing rapidly. The Empire ships are firing back but the deflector shields on the strange ships are more powerful than Ian had known of. A radio transmission comes over Ian's ships speakers. It's his father, Renn Bartholomew and some of the people from Magus.

"Not a moment too soon dad." Ian tells him.

"We got ya son." Renn comms.. back.

The weapons on the larger Magusian ships are powerful and wreak havoc on the Imperial ships. The Star Destroyers try to run but the Magusian ships continue to pound them. Eventually one of the Star Destroyers explodes. The explosion is enough to disable the other. Darth Plagueis sees this on his ships sensors. The Empire is holding off and wreaking havoc on the Rebel attackers. He is relieved of this. But then the Magusian ships join the fight. Ian and Exit are able to skirt around the fight and head back to Corellia. Ian calls to his father.

"We have to run dad, this ship has no weapons or defense capabilities." Says Ian.

"Run son, run!" Renn yells.

The Rebel ships are beginning to gain ground against the Imperial ships. The Rebel ships that had to break off earlier now join the fight with the rear Imperial ships as well. They mop up. The Imperial invaders that attacked the planet were small in size and between the Jedi and the Rebel ships, were able to end the conflict quickly, so they race to join the other fight. Now the Imperial ships are being attacked by Renn's ships on one side, and a large group or Rebel ships on the other. Renn's ships are almost impenetrable and the Rebel ships are fighting well. The Empire must again run. Darth Sidious suggests to his father, that instead of running back to Geonosis, they go to Corellia to find Ian. Darth Plagueis loves the idea and turns his remaining ships toward Corellia.

Ian and Exit land at Corellia. They pass several people but no one seems to be aware of their current situation. They hurry to Ian's office. When they arrive, Ian immediately begins to round up blueprints and computer files containing his designs. Exit just watches him.

"What was in the package that your father gave you?" Exit asks.

Ian thinks. "I forgot all about that."

"It's still in the ship isn't it?" She asks.

"It is." Ian replies.

"I'll go get it." Exit says.

"Be careful." Ian tells her.

She nods and leaves the office, Ian continues to collect stuff that the Empire might find. When Ian is finished he leaves his office. The halls are empty. He's not sure what was going on. There is absolutely no one around. He finds his old bosses Volt and Enoban lying dead.

Exit comes over Ian's communication device.

"Exit." He calls into it.

She talks to him. "It's full of blueprints, things your father designed for the Magusian's."

"Really, that's… that great." Says Ian. "Be careful, something strange is going on."

"I will." She replies.

The place has an eerie feel about it. He arrives back at the space port where he left his ship. When he goes through the door, all the people at his complex have their hands in the air. Darth Plagueis, his son Darth Sidious and several Imperial Officers have Exit at gun point. More Imperial soldiers come from behind him. They've caught him. They take him and Exit on board and fly off. On board, they remand Ian to a holding cell. Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious along with some Imperial officers, converge at Ian's cell.

"We need you to continue plans for the space station for the Empire." Darth Plagueis says.

"I'll do no such thing." Says Ian.

"Very well." Says Darth Plagueis and he pulls Exit out in front of them so that Ian can see that she is their hostage and they will surely execute her if he doesn't comply.

"You know what we'll do with her?" Darth Plagueis says.

Ian looks down in defeat. "Yes."

"Ian don't listen to them, I'm just a droid. Let them end me, it doesn't matter…" Exit is interrupted.

"Shut up!" Darth Sidious orders to her.

"It does matter." Blurts Ian. "It matters to me Exit. You may be a droid but… I have feelings for you. I can't allow that to happen." Ian looks up at Darth Plagueis. "I will do as you say."

"Good, I will arrange to have the current plans displayed on a screen for you. You can continue designing the space station on another computer. By the way, we've found your fathers plans. There's a blueprint for a giant weapon and propulsion that will go nicely on our space station. Adapt them to our plans." Says Darth Sidious. Ian nods his head in defeated agreement. They tell Ian that he just saved her from being deactivated and melted down, but they pull her away. Ian goes to the edge of the holding cell which is protected not by bars but by a force field.

He yells, "Hurt her and you get nothing."

When the two screens arrive, they are hooked up, the blueprints to the current space station and his father's plans for a weapon and propulsion are also available. He has to re-construct part of the space station in order to adapt the propulsion systems and weapon to the blueprints. He works tirelessly day in and day out. He finally gets the idea that they may have ended Exit so he calls them and asks to see her if he is to keep working. They bring her down and place her in his cell. She immediately runs up and hugs him.

"Ian… are you all right." She asks in a tearful voice.

He looks down at her, she has tears in her eyes. "You… you have tears."

"Yes, one droid, complete with tears and emotions." She laughs in a tearful voice.

He laughs too and pulls her back hugging her again.

"I told you not to give them anything, to let them end me." She says.

He looks down at her. "If they designed you right, you would understand that I could not allow them to do that."

She smiles and looks down in defeat. "I know… and I'm glad. I've been one lonely droid."

"And I've been one lonely man." He says looking down at her.

They talk for awhile. He shows her what he's been working on. She can see the immenseness of what he's designing. She knows he has no choice but to comply. He is brought food. She doesn't eat but she watches him. They sit together while he eats. They talk about a lot of things. He tells her his life story. But as soon as it began, it's over. Imperial officers come and tell them that it's time for her to leave. That they have ten minutes. In ten minutes he writes so they can't hear him talking, telling her of a plan to escape. He continues to show her what he's been working on to cover what he's writing. There really isn't enough time but she, as a droid, has the ability to record everything. She knows it's risky and tells him so. He says, of course that he knows but it's the only way, she agrees

Later that day Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious come before his cell. Darth Sidious uses his power over the Dark Side to lift and pin Ian to the back wall of the cell. Ian smashes into the wall and is held there. Darth Plagueis uses his power over the dark side to pull the screens over to where he can see them and pulls the blueprints up. Ian doesn't know how he's done that. "We just want to make sure that you are working on the plans for the space station and not some ulterior thing. My son has great power over the Dark Side does he not?"

Ian can hardly breath, he squeaks out words. "Yes… he seems… very powerful."

Darth Sidious plasters Ian harder against the wall still keeping him elevated off the floor.

"Easy my son, we don't want to kill him before he has completed his task." Darth Plagueis says.

Darth Sidious lets him fall to the floor, then elevates him and plasters him against the wall again. Darth Plagueis just watches and smiles. He looks the plans over, "You've been working hard Dr. The Empire will thank you. Make sure that our engineers understand the plans so they can build it when it is complete. By the way, you have ten more days."

Ian squeaks out more words. "Ten days… is not… enough."

"Then… the droid woman will die before they are complete. That would be a shame, however, if you complete them in ten days, we will let her live a little longer." Darth Plagueis says.

Ian squeaks again, still being held against the wall by some unseen power. "I want to see her again."

"You've seen her enough, you'll just have to trust that I haven't deactivated her. And Dr. If you think what my son is putting you through is painful, imagine what dying will be like." Darth Plagueis says as he smiles. "Come along Darth Sidious, we have other matters to attend."

The two Sith walk off. Ian is still elevated and pinned against the wall. Several moments go by before the power is gone. He falls to the floor, out of breath and holding his chest. The ordeal was painful. Ian, being the tough man that he is, gets up, stumbles some, moves the screens back to where he had them and goes back to work. He works for ten days. Then he calls for Darth Plagueis saying that he wants to see Exit. Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious arrive before the cell with some Imperial Officers in tow. Darth Sidious pins Ian up and against the wall again. The force field over the entrance to the cell is lowered. The computers are taken out. Exit gets pushed in and the force field goes back up. Exit sees Ian pinned but try as she may, she can't get him down.

"They better be complete Dr. for her sake." Darth Plagueis threatens.

Plagueis and his entourage leave. Ian stays pinned a few more moments until Darth Sidious lets him go. He falls to the floor again holding his chest. He is laying down, his strength zapped from him. Exit holds his head, she asks him if he's alright. He indicates that he is, that he just needs a few minutes to regain his composure again.

When he is revived, he asks her how they've been treating her. She explains that they have affixed a Restraining Bolt to her. She shows him. They simply shut her down when they don't need her. She'd been shut down the whole time. He tells her that they need to figure out how to remove it. There's no way without them finding out. The moment they try to remove the restraining bolt, they would be found out. He writes to throw them off. She reads but acts as if she is still listening to him talk about what he's been doing and his treatment thus far. "Are you ready?" Ian asks Exit in writing. She nods.

A day passes, Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious approach Ian's cell to tell him what their next move is and to thank him for plans well done. But when they arrive, the cell is empty. Dr. Bartholomew and Exit are gone. Darth Plagueis hits an alarm and announces ship wide that the two prisoners have escaped. Darth Sidious tries to activate Exit's restraining bolt but it indicates that there is no signal. No one can seem to find them. Darth Plagueis is watching monitors from the main bridge. The monitors show smaller ships coming and going. Darth Sidious watches also.

"There!" Darth Sidious yells, pointing at a ship as it flies out of one of the bays on the Star Destroyer.

Darth Plagueis looks, he feels through the Force. He senses them on the small ship also. "Stop that ship." He orders.

He and Darth Sidious run down toward the bay but as they're running, the small ship gives it the gas and vamps out quickly. When the two Sith arrive at the bay, one of the Imperial officers tells them that they couldn't stop it, it flew off before they could do anything. Darth Plagueis heads back out of the bay followed by Darth Sidious. The Imperial officer that allowed the prisoners to escape suffers massive pain in his chest, his eyes go blood red, his head begins to expand, he is clearly in pain. When he is finally released from the bonds of the Dark Side he falls over and dies on the bay floor.

Ian and Exit are running like mad. The plan worked, they fooled the prison guards and were able to steal aboard a small freighter ship. When the ship lands Ian and Exit wait for awhile before they come out of hiding. The ship is empty, the pilots and crew are gone. Ian looks out the windows of both sides of the ship but sees nothing. He opens the ships hatch and starts out. A sound erupts from outside the ship. Ian falls from the hatch to the floor of the ship unconscious. Exit is shocked, checks Ian to see if he's still alive. He is, she looks out the hatch herself. Imperial Soldiers are waiting for them. One of the soldiers presses a button on what looks like some sort of remote, it makes a buzzing noise much like the one the Jawa's used to shut down R2 in the very first movie. This time, when Ian comes to, Exit is nowhere in sight and he is shackled to a bulkhead in a less kept holding cell. The smell around him is profuse. He looks at the shackles and the chains holding him. Later that day an Imperial Officer comes to him and throws what might be food, at his feet.

"Today you will be moved to the ship works where you will assist in building. The Empire has no further need for you. The droid girl will be deactivated but not until you can witness it yourself." Says the officer.

Ian just sits and looks down in defeat. The next day, several Imperial Soldiers lift him up, remove his shackles from the bulkhead and force him to carry the heavy shackles to the ship works where he is chained down again, handed a laser welder and ordered to get to work. He looks around the room. Ships are being built all over then at all the misery. He looks at his situation, other slaves or forced labor work building according to a master ship builder who is dressed in Imperial garb. Ian begins to work barely able to hold himself up. Weakened from beatings and lack of food. No sign of Exit anywhere. Surely she must be deactivated or worse. He continues to work. One day, a Sith, unknown, and some Imperial officers approach Ian. The Sith addresses him. He looks up, dirty, sweaty, defeated and smelly. The Sith asks him if he is Dr. Bartholomew. Ian answers yes. The Sith tells him that the Empire needs probes. Probes that will hunt space near Geonosis, be undetectable, be self sustaining and have the ability to destroy any ships that come close that are not Empire. The Sith asks him if he can build something like that. He tells the Sith that he can do it easily but he has to design it on paper first. The Sith agrees, they release him and put him in a dark room where there are keyboards and monitors. He is to use these computers to design the probes. The Empire wants three of them. Powerful enough to encircle the planet, communicate with each other and with surface security. Ian goes to work. He's hungry and thirsty. He inquires about food and drink assuming someone can hear him. Moments later the door to the room opens and a tray of food and drink are set on the floor. They give him ten minutes to eat. He eats. A while later the food has given him some revitalization. He tries the door just for grins. It's unlocked. Surely someone will see this, come and lock it. No one does. He opens it again a peaks out. No one around. He steps out and proceeds to a landing platform. No one is guarding the platform. He steps through the entrance to the platform. He looks around. There are plenty of ships and no one seems the wiser about his presents. He steps back through. There is a computer terminal across the corridor from where he's standing. He looks around, people walk past but no one seems to recognize him as a prisoner. He walks up to the terminal and tries to use it. It is protected by a sensor. Being the brilliant man that he is, he taps something into the keyboard. The computer comes to life and gives him access. Just out of curiosity he starts to look for Exit. First he types in her name. Exit and entrance points around the Star Destroyer are listed with an aerial view of the ships layout. Then he types in a search for droids. This time he hits pay dirt. There is a list of droids on board the ship and Exit's name is on it. He clicks her name and an explanation of her current condition comes up.

"Functioning – Shutdown – available – Clerical – Male companionship"

Male companionship, what does that mean? He clicks on it. It's what he was afraid of. Basically if one of the officers on board needs female companionship, she can be activated. Ian can't let that be. He looks at the rest of the report on her. She's in a droid holding room, 2, 11-D. Second floor, room 11-D. He finds an elevator. He enters and goes to the second floor. He comes out of the elevator, people walks by but again, no one seems to recognize him as a prisoner. He begins searching for the room. He finds it, there's an automatic door that will only open with a specific pass, he wonders. Just about that time, someone walks up and asks him to move, they're polite. He moves and the person opens the door to the room. They step inside, Ian steps in after them. The room is massive. There are droids everywhere. Some hanging from hooks of some sort, others stuffed in boxes and still others standing, inert, but not collapsing. He looks around, there are hundreds, no way for him to find her easily.

An alarm sounds, "Prisoner Escape, Prisoner Escape" comes the announcement over the loud speaker, Ian hurries. He sees another computer terminal near him in the room. He accesses it and searches for Exit. He finds her and pushes a touch screen button next to her name. The droids on the hooks begin to move like clothes on a dry cleaning conveyer. He sees her, she is hung up like a doll, lifeless and looking quite useless. He examines the hook, no big deal, he releases her and brings her down to the floor. Behind her head is a small access panel. He opens it and turns her on. She comes to life.

"Ian… how did you." He cuts her off.

"Shhhh… we have to leave now, that alarm is for us." He says quietly but frantically.

She gets up under her own power. He takes her hand and they leave the room. They make their way to the elevator, then to the landing platform. They begin to look for a ship. They're all accessible but can't be activated without a pass so they just pick one. Ian knows his way around the pass key issue. Before long, they are detected. The room is cleared out. Several imperial officers enter the room and begin firing on the ship. Its outer hull is too dense for standard blasters. Ian activates the ship. He elevates it, turns it on the officers and begins to fire its weapons destroying or killing everything in its path. He is able to fly the ship around the room but there's no way out of the bay. He aims the weapons at the wall and fires opening a gaping hole in the side if the vessel. Ian flies out. Space comes in and several of the officers and Storm Troopers are sucked out before the invisible shield blocks the opening. He immediately gets on a comm.. and calls for help. He checks his instruments, he is being followed by several ships, he assumes they must be imperial. He guns the ship, it has Hyper-drive capability so he enters something into the computer and makes the jump. They're safe for the moments. Then, suddenly, the ship shuts down. All of its electronics and propulsion systems quit. The ship drops out of light speed and floats helplessly in space. He figures their caught again and apologizes to Exit. She isn't listening to him. She sees something out of the front window of the ship they're on. Other ships are coming toward them. The ships pull up next to them and attach. The hatch is opened. Several men come out.

"Who are you?" They ask Ian.

"I'm Ian Bartholomew, this is Exit." He answers.

"Are you running from the Empire?" They ask.

"Yes." He answers.

They usher Ian and Exit onto their ship. The hatch closes, they detach and begin to run for it. But there are only two of them. The pilot of the ship they're on, calls on the comm.. system for assistance. The Imperial ships follow and fire on them. They fire back. They identify themselves as Rebel Alliance. Ian has heard of them and knows they're the good guys.

He re-assures Exit, "its ok, these guys are part of the Coup attempting to fight against the Empire. I've heard about them."

She lets out a sigh of relief. But the trouble isn't over, the pilot detects several Star Destroyers bearing down on them. The other ship that was with them explodes right next to them. The ship they're on is being tractored in. One of the men aboard the ship asks who they are. Ian explains who he is, telling them that he is the one who designed many of the ships the Empire is using including the Star Destroyer that is tractoring them in. They announce this over their comm.. but communications are cut off. Part of the protocol that accompanies the tractor beam.

One of the Jedi hears the call for help but is unable to communicate back. He dispatches several ships to the area but it will take time for them to get there. Yoda enters the room.

"Found something, what have you?" Yoda asks.

"We had a transmission from one of our scout ships but our instruments indicate that their communications were cut off. They were being pursued by Imperial Star Destroyers. One of the Alliance ships was destroyed shortly after the rescue." The Jedi answers.

"Their cargo, what was it?" Yoda asks.

"Two passengers, a droid by the name of Exit and a human by the name of Ian Bartholomew." The Jedi answers.

"Ian Bartholomew!" Yoda repeats. "Who this person is, we must find out."

"Yes master." The Jedi answers.

"Find these Star destroyers we must. Dr. Bartholomew an important man he may be." Yoda issues.

The Alliance ship enters the bay of the Star destroyer, the hatch opens. Exit runs out to try to reason with them. Ian calls out to her but it's too late. Imperial officers and storm troopers that have entered the bay fire their blasters at her, several hit her. She is a droid and doesn't go down easily but she eventually goes down. Ian is beside himself with grief and slumps. The pilot and other Alliance soldiers are executed, the ship sent back into space and destroyed. Ian won't go willingly so they have to drag him. The Storm Troopers are strong and carry him without a problem. He can feel as they drag him before someone. He doesn't look up but someone instructs them as to what to do with him. Ian doesn't hear but he is carried back to the ship works, shackled, beaten, given a laser welder, beaten again and told to get to work. Later one of the Imperial officers comes to him. He drops printed blueprints in front of him.

"These are the blueprints for the probes that you were designing." He says.

Ian looks at the officer, then looks down at the blueprints. He picks one up and looks at it. "It is." Says Ian but beaten and defeated.

"Start building them." The officer orders.

"These blueprints are not finished." Says Ian.

"Then build the probes without blueprints, and they better be good or you will suffer!" Says the officer.

The officer leaves. The laborers all go back to work. Ian picks up the blueprints. A master ship builder dressed in Imperial garb comes up to him. "What do you need?"

Ian begins constructing the probes. After he builds the second one he throws the welder down and yells to the ship builder. "Where is my droid. I won't do any more until I have my droid."

Several Imperial officers surround him and start to beat him. After a few minutes, they stop. He is all but unconscious. The officers step back. Someone kneels down beside him. "Ian, what have they done to you?" Exit asks.

Ian looks up at her. He's on his last legs. "They repaired you."

"Yes." Exit says.

Ian detects that something is different about her but he's too tired and withdrawn to figure it out. Darth Plagueis is asking about Ian. He tells the other officers in the room that somehow he must be made to continue the design to the space station. Darth Plagueis asks what he's working on now. One of the officers tells him that the Dr. is building three armed probes to put in space around Geonosis. Darth Plagueis asks how it is that he's doing this. One of the officers explains that they had him beaten. He's tried to escape twice.

Darth Plagueis gets angry and asks why the Dr. is not continuing his work on the plans for the Space station, no one seems to know. The Sith then asks them if they know anything else about him. They explain that his girlfriend is a droid woman who has had her thoughts altered so they can get information from him concerning the location of the Resistance and they have implanted a listening device in her that will allow them to listen in on his plans in case he tries to escape again. Darth Plagueis then tells them to threaten to torture him if he doesn't comply. One of the officers suggests that they simply program the girl to get the information out of him. The Sith Lord agrees.

One of the probes is finished and is jettisoned out into space to begin guarding the Empires efforts. The probe is actuated and does more than they expected. It has powerful weapons, only the Empire can track it.

It detects a couple of ships flying into Imperial space. Freighter ships, not of the Imperial call sign. The freighter ships don't detect it as per Imperial requested. The probe locks on to one of the ships, fires and destroys it. Before the other two freighter ships can figure out what is going on the probe locks on, fires and destroys the other two.

The Empire loves it. The Dr. may be a prisoner but he's true to his word, he has never built or designed a bad ship.

Several of the Imperial officers and Darth Sidious come to his cell. The Dr. sees Darth Sidious and as soon as he does, Darth Sidious uses the Force to lift and slam the Dr. against the back wall. The officers explain that he will be tasked with finishing the other two probes and taking time to finish the designs for the Space Station or be tortured. He painfully agrees. They leave, and again after several moments, the power is relieved and the Dr. drops to the floor. Holding his chest, he sits for a moment to regain his senses.

Exit is allowed to stay in the cell with him and runs to his side feigning to be concerned about him.

"Tell me what to enter into the computer for the Space Station and I will help you." Exit says.

He agrees thinking that she could in fact speed up the process allowing him to finish the probes and finish the plans for the space station in a fair amount of time. So, as he works on the second of the three probes, he verbally tells Exit what to enter into the computer. If they see that he's making an effort, they might leave him alone.

One of the Jedi comes to Yoda several days later.

"We may have determined the identity of the Dr. that the Empire was so interested in." Says the Jedi.

"Listening, I am." Says Yoda.

"We believe he was the master ship builder for the Corellian's. A superior ship-builder unlike any known thus far, we believe the Empire has captured him in an effort to have him design ships exclusively for them." Says the Jedi.

"Disconcerting this is, planning something big they might be." Says Yoda thinking. "Find out where they are holding him we must."

"Several ships have been destroyed around the planet Geonosis and no one seems to be able to tell what it is that is destroying them." Adds the Jedi.

"Something un-detectable, they must have, go to this planet and investigate we must. Find the answers we are looking for perhaps." Says Yoda.

"Yes master." Says the Jedi, he stops and finishes a thought. "Master, I believe we have detected an Imperial presents in the area of this planet."

"Show me." Yoda orders.

"Come with me master." The Jedi says.

After several days the Empire releases Dr. Bartholomew and allows him some time in an apartment. Exit is with him. He showers, she surprises him and climbs into the shower with him. They make love (But it's only implied). As they shower together she asks him something strange.

"Are there things you're not telling the Empire?" She asks.

Ian is surprised by the question, "I… why do you ask?"

"I just… want to know what you know, I don't want us to keep secrets from each other." She answers.

Ian thinks, "Are you working for the Empire?"

"Of Course not." She answers.

"But if we're not keeping secrets from each other you should tell me if you are." He says.

She thinks, "I… well I… No I'm not. I'm not working for the Empire."

Ian knows that a natural human response psychologically is to deny something but in a hesitant way. He knows that this is most likely a lie. He smiles at her. He reaches up to the back of her head and shuts her down. She drops in his arms.

He carries her out of the shower. Dries off and lays her down on the bed face down. She is naked but since she is a droid, he really doesn't pay attention to the fact that she is really quite shapely. Very woman like.

Ian knows a lot about droids and is able to access a panel behind her head that reveals her computer brain. He removes certain parts, digging down to her conditioned processing. All he sees is electronics. He looks around the apartment. There is nothing obvious as far as electronics are concerned. There is an electronic panel housing the electronics for the door. He knows that there must be a conduit to a computer somewhere that allows them to open, lock and unlock the door automatically from a different location on the ship. Ian is clever, he looks around for something to use to open the access panel. There is food in metal containers. He grabs one of the containers, eats some of the food out of it quickly, washes it out and uses it to pry the door access panel open. He recognizes the wire that is probably attached to a computer somewhere. He pulls on it, it's long enough. He knows where to hook it to Exits computer brain.

Her mouth serves as a communication device. He does something else to get her talking. She speaks in machine language but Ian understands it. The sub caption says, " _Girl, white female, 130 lbs, 30 years of age, name – Exit, purpose, clerical, capability – clerical, conditioning… change in Data, conditioning, relay back to Empire, purpose, knowledge of prisoners intentions, computer data link, detention block authorization…_ "

Ian knows what that means, " _computer data link, detention block authorization_." It means he's been found out. No sooner does he begin to put her back together does his apartment door open! Storm Troopers and Imperial officers run in, zap him with something that knocks him out and drag him out of the apartment.

When he awakes he is back in the ship-works, chained down in front of his most recent project the space probes. He groggily reaches for a tool and begins to work. In the back of his mind he knows he'll probably never see Exit again but he's too tired and beaten to show any emotion.

Darth Plagueis and the younger Darth Sidious come in and stand before him in the ship-works. He slowly turns to see who's watching him. As soon as he sees Darth Sidious, his eyes go wide. Darth Sidious uses the Force to smash him to the ceiling of the room. Ian is still chained down so to add to the pain of being smashed to the ceiling, his leg where the shackle is attached is pulled in an odd direction. He cries out in pain.

"Dr. it looks as if you are about to finish the second probe." Darth Plagueis says with a deviate smile on his face. Ian looks at Darth Sidious and he is slammed against the ceiling again, pulling on his shacked leg even more.

Ian answers through the pain, "Yes, and I've begun working on the second one."

"Good… that is very good. And we have had our own engineers and scientists go over your blueprints for the space station. You have done great work. They were able to complete the plans." Says Darth Plagueis. Not knowing that Ian has built an un-noticeable defect in it. Ian hoped that someone would eventually uncover it. Ian knew that Darth Plagueis thought that he had finally out-smarted the Dr. But that was hard to do, even for the smartest of beings. As they began to leave, Darth Sidious rammed the Dr. around before letting him drop twenty feet to the floor.

Darth Sidious was older now. Darth Plagueis had taught the younger Sith all he knew about the force. All he knew except how to bring someone back to life. Darth Sidious knew this, which made him even angrier at Darth Plagueis in addition to his mother being gotten rid of. Darth Sidious was an ace with the Light Saber and had become very powerful with the Dark Side of the Force.

One day Darth Plagueis came into the room.

"You are going to be given your own ship my son." Said Darth Plagueis.

"Then will I be in charge of the fleet?" Darth Sidious asks.

"No… for now, you will only be in charge of the ship you are assigned to. I will remain in charge of the fleet and the Empire." Answers Darth Plagueis.

Darth Sidious was again angered by this.

Darth Plagueis responds, "I sense that you are angered by this?"

"I… I…" Darth Sidious tries to think of something to throw him off but then Darth Plagueis reveals more.

"I have sensed for some time that you are angry at me. I began to sense it when I cast your mother out as a slave on Tatooine."

Darth Sidious drops his head in shame, "Yes… yes father, I… I have been angry at you because of that."

"Be cautious of your feelings young man, they could be used against you." Darth Plagueis adds.

Darth Sidious agrees but un-known to Darth Plagueis, Darth Sidious has become so powerful with the Dark Side that the feelings that Darth Plagueis sensed were fed to him on purpose. Darth Plagueis actually had no knowledge of this ruse. So Darth Sidious thought.

Days went by, eventually Darth Sidious was moved to a new, more advanced Star Destroyer in the Imperial fleet. He was introduced to the Imperial officers just below him in rank but in charge of that ship. They planned and were given orders to take the new Star Destroyer around space to test its abilities. Dr. Bartholomew had been moved to that ship also. The Star Destroyer, followed by other Star Destroyers in the Imperial Fleet were at light speed headed toward a specific planet for testing. When the fleet came out of light speed near the planet, the Rebel Alliance was waiting for them.

The Alliance ships began firing at once. The Imperial Fleet was caught off guard. Darth Sidious seemed eerily calm at the on-set of this attack. The Rebel fleet was inflicting severe damage. Darth Plagues sensed this and marshaled his own ship to rush to the region. Jedi used smaller ships to get into the Imperial ships. Thicker hulls made getting aboard the new Star Destroyer more difficult but it didn't stop them. Darth Sidious sat in his own chambers while the rest of the Imperials and storm troopers fought off the Rebels. If the Rebels got too close, Darth Sidious knew it and was able to fight them off using the Dark-Side. Of course the Jedi were different and were able to access Darth Sidious' chambers. But Darth Sidious was too good. When the Jedi entered, he drew his Light Saber and brought them down fairly easily. The attack went on for some time. Darth Plagueis' ship eventually arrived. Darth Plagueis, shielded by a group of Tie Fighters, was flown in his shuttle to Darth Sidious' ship. This was what Darth Sidious was waiting for. When he sensed that Darth Plagueis was on board, he began to use the Dark-Side to ward off each of the men in Darth Plagueis' entourage. Some of them are dashed against a wall or lifted high before being dropped, most of them fall dead in the bay where Darth Plagueis' shuttle had landed.

Darth Plagueis saw this happening and knew that Darth Sidious was behind it all. Darth Plagueis and some of his entourage entered a corridor and began to head up to Darth Sidious' quarters. Darth Sidious was so good, that all of the men in the entourage were dead by the time the few remaining, reached the entrance to the younger Sith's room. Darth Plagueis looked around him. All his men and Rebels were dead. He smiled an evil smile believing that he was still more powerful than Darth Sidious. But when Darth Plagueis tried to open the entrance to the room, Darth Sidious used the Force to bar his entrance. Darth Plagueis used more power from the Dark Side to open the door. Darth Sidious prevented it. Darth Plagueis tried using his power to bring things inside the room down on Darth Sidious. Darth Sidious saw this in time and prevented it. The two used their powers over the Dark Side to try to injure or kill each other but as Darth Plagueis tried one thing, Darth Sidious was able to one-up him. Eventually Darth Sidious was able to command the Dark Side to carry Darth Plagues to a different area of the Star Destroyer.

While all this was taking place, the Jedi and the Rebels were attacking other parts of the ship. They made their way to the Ship Works battling as they went. Even if the people or species working in the Ship Works who didn't like the Empire, fought against the Rebels. The Rebels were crack and were able to thwart most of the Imperial workers. The Jedi and Rebels worked their way through the room, cutting people down or destroying things that they worked on. Dr. Bartholomew was hiding behind his second creation. One of the Imperial leaders caught up with the Dr. and made him Jettison the second probe during the scuffle. The probe left the Star Destroyer and immediately began fighting against the Rebel ships. The leader then told the Dr. to continue to work on the third probe. As the fighting went on around him he tried to work. Light Sabers were flailing. The Imperial officer that was giving him orders was eventually cut down. A Jedi used the Force and leaped thirty or so feet to where the probes were. When he landed, he used his Light Saber to cut up the third probe. In the process the Jedi cut the chain holding the Dr. in place. The Jedi was about to kill the Dr. realizing that the Dr. had been freed. The Dr. winced, ducking down thinking that this was the end. While the fighting went on around him, he realized that the Jedi was gone and he was still alive. The Dr. seized the opportunity and dashed out of the room. There was still some fighting going on in the corridor outside the Ship Works bay but not nearly as much. The Dr. accessed a nearby computer terminal. He discovered where Exit was.

While he covertly moved through each of the corridors he would come upon Rebel Soldiers lying dead. He eventually came upon a Jedi that had been killed. His Light Saber was still lying next to him. Ian picked it up and ignited it. Still working, he continues to advance through the corridors to find Exit.

Darth Plagueis is also moving through the corridors watching every step, as if he were a cat on the prowl. As he turns a corner Ian comes out of nowhere and slashes at Darth Plagueis. Darth Plagueis with his Sith senses blocks Ian's attack with his own Light Saber. Ian is strong and his slash was enough to knock Darth Plagueis down. Ian swings the Light Saber several more times but his efforts are all blocked by Darth Plagueis. Darth Plagueis then puts his left palm forward, fingers spread sending Ian flying backwards through the air. Ian crashes through an access to another corridor. When Darth Plagueis comes through the access, Ian is gone. Ian tries another attack coming out of hiding, slashing at Darth Plagueis with the Light Saber. Darth Plagueis blocks it again, fans out his hand and pushes Ian back and through the air. Ian lands hard about half way down a corridor. He gets up as quick as he can but Darth Plagueis, powerful with the Dark Side, brings walls, floor and ceiling together, imploding them in front of Ian, blocking his way. Ian tries to run the other way but Darth Plagueis does the same thing behind Ian now trapping him in. Ian doesn't wait, he uses the Light Saber to cut through the wreckage behind him and makes a run for it. He's pretty smart this time. He enters a room, it is dark and full of computers and other machines. He hides behind some further into the room. Darth Plagueis enters the room.

"I know you're in here Dr. I'll find you and you'll be my prisoner again." Says Darth Plagueis with his warped smile as her carefully dances through the room.

Ian is waiting for him. When Darth Plagueis is near him, Ian lunges at him with the Light Saber! Darth Plagueis blocks his attempt again but this time, knocking the Light Saber out of Ian's hands. Ian takes advantage of his opponents back swing and jumps on him tackling him to the floor. The struggle a moment rolling around but eventually Darth Plagueis with stRenngth through the Dark Side, throws Ian off, tossing him like a tissue through the air. Ian crash lands and is stunned. Darth Plagueis is on his feet, Light Saber ignited, coming toward Ian ready to cut him to pieces. Just as Darth Plagueis swings down at Ian his thrust is blocked by another Light Saber, it's Yoda.

"A long time have I been waiting for this." Yoda says as he takes advantage of Darth Plagueis' surprise.

Darth Plagueis begins to fight Yoda, dueling with Light Sabers. Yoda is the best and makes Darth Plagueis work hard for his life.

Ian takes off to find Exit.

When he arrives at the Droid Storage room and enters he sees that another droid was disassembling them. The Dr. Enters but the disassembling droid begins to fight against him. The droid has a blaster. The Dr. is able to duck out of the way just in time. The blaster shots burned into the bulkhead but missed him. The droid was big and the Dr. could hear him as he clanked along the floor in pursuit. The Dr. had nowhere to hide at that point. The large droid stood next to the bulkhead that the Dr. was hiding behind, looked over, saw the Dr. crouched down, raised the blaster over the bulkhead and pointed it at Ian. Ian was sure this was the end again but just as the droid was about to pull the trigger a bright light flashes back and forth several times and the droid falls down around him in pieces. A Jedi, of a different species, looks over at the Dr. The Dr. looks up at the Jedi.

"If that droid was trying to kill you then you must be on our side." Said the Jedi.

"Yes." Answered the Dr. "I am Dr. Ian Bartholomew.

The Jedi looked surprised. "We were told about you. We were told that if we found you that we should get you to one of the Rebel ships immediately."

"Really?" The Dr. asked.

"Yes, although none of us assumed you would be here." Said the Jedi. "Why are you here?"

The Dr. had to think, "The… Empire… was using me to design and build for them."

"I see." Said the Jedi. "You must be very good."

"I… guess I am." Said the Dr.

"Come with me!" The Jedi ordered frantically.

The Dr. began to follow him out but then stopped. The Jedi was surprised and urged him to hurry. The Dr. told the Jedi to wait, he ran to the bunch of droids set for destruction and found Exit. The Jedi looked at the Dr. like, "Really?"

The two ran out, Exit over the Dr's. shoulder. The Jedi was great. It seemed as if they were all but dead as Imperial Soldiers and Storm Troopers fired at them but the Jedi used his Light Saber to deflect the shots, some of which he deflected back at those who fired them or engaged them in hand to hand taking them down easily. The two ran down different corridors. The Jedi used his Force attuned senses to see attacks before they happened, cutting down their attackers as they ran.

They neared where a Rebel ship had been attached. They were almost there when a Sith came out of nowhere and cut the Jedi down. Men from the Rebel ship fired at the Sith. The Sith was able to deflect the shots but the Rebels were able to close their hatch and detach from the Star Destroyer. Ian hung on and was able to see the Sith pulled out into space through a vacuum that was created when the Rebel ship released and left a gaping hole. Shields eventually covered the hole and the vacuum stopped. The Dr. was alone with Exit's lifeless body next to him. He picked her up and began running in the other direction.

Darth Plagueis gets up and walks out of the dark room of the Star Destroyer. He picked himself up and begins to cautiously look around. He wasn't smiling, he was attuned and concerned. He enters another dark room. The room is quiet. He has his Light Saber out and moves slowly looking for a way out. Then a voice came, Darth Plagueis wasn't able to detect where it was coming from but he knew who it was coming from.

"My mother." The voice of Darth Sidious announced.

"Yes, your mother." Darth Plagueis responded.

"I… needed her." The voice uttered.

Darth Plagueis has continued to keep his guard up as he cautiously proceeds through the room. "A Sith… has no need of a mother."

"Yes, that is true." The voice uttered.

"Then what is the problem. Why try to kill me?" Darth Plagueis asked the air.

No answer came for a moment. "She… she was human, a human mother is different from a Sith mother."

"I was not aware of that." Darth Plagueis responds.

"Yes, I became… attached to her." Darth Sidious' voice emits.

"Forgive me, I did not know." Darth Plagueis responds still trying to use the Dark Side to sense the young Sith.

"You know, Sith never show forgiveness." The voice utters.

Darth Plagueis continues to search. "Then… you must kill me." He says assuming that he will eventually prevail.

"I know you think you are more powerful that me but you taught me too much. Now I want to kill you and I will rule over the Empire." Says the voice.

"I am… older… and wiser. You cannot hope to defend against me. Soon I will find you and I will strike you down." Darth Plagueis says.

But it wouldn't be so. Darth Sidious uses the Force to lift Darth Plagueis off the floor. Darth Plagueis uses his power to bring himself back down but this is simply a ruse by Darth Sidious to make his father think that his power is greater. To Darth Plagueis' dismay, Darth Sidious lifts him again. This time Darth Plagueis is unable to fight against it. In signature style, Darth Sidious smashed him against a rafter high in the room. He then uses the Force to dash Darth Plagueis around and smashes him into other things. Finally Darth Plagueis falls to the floor. But just as soon as that happens, large objects detach from their places on the walls and begin falling on him, pummeling him almost to death.

Darth Sidious clears the wreckage away and lifts the embattled Sith up again. This time Darth Plagueis is slowly raised to where he can see Darth Sidious. He is perched high above on a walkway of sorts. Darth Sidious brings Darth Plagueis closer, but still elevating him far off the ground.

"I just wanted a father… to look up to… to learn from, not a beast who sends my mother off to a slave colony." Says Darth Sidious.

"I am your father my son." Darth Plagueis says, near death.

"So you say, now you will not only die but you will relinquish command over to me." Says Darth Sidious as his father levitates before him.

"I can help you son. I can teach you more." Says Darth Plagueis in another effort to sway his son.

Darth Sidious pulls his Light Saber, ignites it. Darth Plagueis' eyes grow wide as he reaches one more time into the Dark Side. His head rolls back and he goes into a trance. He sends something through the Dark Side but even Darth Sidious does not know what. Darth Plagueis has entered the deepest part of the Force. His appearance is changing. Only he has the ability to probe that deep.

"What did you do father?" Darth Sidious asks in a determined, angry voice.

"Ask you mother?" Darth Plagueis ends in an eerie victim's voice who knows his end is near.

Now Darth Sidious is in charge. He makes that clear to everyone in the Empire. Word gets out around the galaxy that he is the new Emperor. Kidnapping males from obscure planets stops. Darth Sidious believes that there are enough men to build what needs to be built. He also puts together a team to find the master ship builder, namely Ian Bartholomew. His knowledge is too valuable to allow anyone else to have. As long as the Empire has the most powerful ships, they have an advantage to rule the galaxy.

On the planet of Tatooine, Shmee is walking down a street. Cut back to Darth Plagueis, still in a trance. Cut back to Shmee walking, she stops. Others around her see her. She has a concerned look on her face. Cut back to Darth Plagueis in a trance but shaking now. Cut back to Shmee. She grabs hold of her stomach and winces in pain. Some people come to her side. Cut back to Darth Plagueis, in a trance, shaking, he jumps. Cut back to Shmee, she cries out in pain and drops to her knees. Those around her react. Cut back to Darth Plagueis, still in the trance, he shakes again. Cut back to Shmee. She cries out again in pain, this time she passes out.

Cut back to Darth Plagueis. Darth Sidious slashes downward cutting his father in two. Tears come from his eyes as he releases the hold on his father. The two halves drop to the floor far below. Darth Sidious is now the supreme leader of the Empire.

On Tatooine, Shmee wakes up in a medical facility, very limited in its capabilities since slaves do not get good medical services. She looks up from her lying position, naked but under a sheet. The doctor looks down at her.

"I am Doctor Liam Kenzee. I apologize, as slaves we are not given much so there isn't much I can do for you." The doctor says.

"What happened to me?" Shmee asks.

"You past out in the market area this morning. People brought you here." The Doctor answers.

"Do you know why I passed out?" She asks.

"No other than to say that it had something to do with your baby." He answers.

"Baby?" She asks.

"Yes, surely you knew you were pregnant?" He asks

She thinks for a second, then looks at him. "That would be impossible."

He laughs a little, "When you are with someone that can happen."

She thinks again, "But I… I was not with anyone."

He laughs a little again, "That's what they all say."

She ignores his comment. She thinks, "Can I leave?"

"I don't see why not, there is nothing I can do for you. If you feel well enough, you may leave." He says.

She gets up, puts on what clothes she was wearing and heads out the door. When she gets outside, she walks a little further and eventually arrives at her apartment. She walks in. Her slave owner is waiting for her.

"Well, did you get what I asked for?" Watto asks.

She sits and thinks. "No… I…"

"NO? That is not like you, what happened?" Watto asks.

She thinks, "I… I was caught ill."

"Ill?" Watto asks.

She looks at him, "Yes, some people took me to the doctor."

"A doctor, what is wrong with you?" Watto asks.

Shock comes over her face, "Somehow… somehow I am… pregnant."

"Pregnant, I have known your every-where-abouts, you have not been… with… anyone." Watto comments.

She looks at him. "No one!"

Yoda, back on Coruscant, sitting in the Jedi temple main room, in a trance. Jedi master Fias walks in. He sees Yoda is concentrating on something so he doesn't bother the small Jedi leader. Yoda is deep in concentration, when we look into his thoughts we find him battling Darth Plagueis. In slow motion we see him making moves that only he, Yoda, is able to make, bouncing off objects in the room, wielding his saber as he had successfully so many times before. The Light Sabers bright in the Dark room, flailing, we are barely able to see the two opponents. And yet, Darth Plagueis, knowingly unable to win against Yoda, was able to escape. Yoda must contemplate his mistake. He eventually comes out of the trance. Master Fias looks at Yoda concerned.

"Am I to ask what presses you master Yoda?" The Jedi asks.

"Failed I have, let Darth Plagueis escape, I did. What mistakes made, did I? Yoda answers.

Fias has to think, "Maybe he was advanced in the Force enough to have battled with something you have never seen master".

"Possible it is. Perfect with a Light Saber I am not." Retorts Yoda.

"No, the best maybe, but not perfect." Says Fias.

Yoda looks at him. "Apparently, the best, I am not."

"You are too humble master." Says Fias laughing a little.

"Humility, in a Jedi, a good quality this is. But kill this Sith, I needed to." Says Yoda.

"There see master, you needed to, maybe you didn't want to." Says Fias.

Yoda contemplates. "This Sith, dangerous he is, powerful with the Dark Side he is. Stopped he must be."

"He will be master, but maybe not by you." Says Fias.

Yoda snickers a little. "Wise are you master Fias, wise are you."

Ian looks cautiously into the ship works bay. The room is dark, smoky, causing him to wish for regular air but empty. Even as the smoke filled his lungs causing him to cough, he kept moving. He can hear the battle still going on around him. He enters the abandoned bay, Exit still drooped over his shoulder. He cautiously walks through the bay looking for anything that he can use to escape. He sees the shell of the third probe he was working on, somewhat wrecked per a Jedi Light Saber. He races towards it, sizes it up, throws Exit in and begins to rebuild it. Time passes and he eventually moves the apparently completed probe onto the Jettison ramp. He actuates the ramp and climbs inside the probe. Inside the probe, it's dark, Exit lies behind him. He sits in a hastily made chair and straps himself in. In front of him, a panel resembling the pilots panel of a ship. He hits a switch, the panel comes to life, light from the panel now somewhat illuminating the inside. Outside the probe, large doors open from the bay of the Star Destroyer, the probe is carried inside a pressurized room. The large doors close behind it. Inside the room where the probe is now located, the sound of pressure hisses, indicating that a vacuum has been created. Doors to outer space open and the probe is fired out of the Star Destroyer per its jettison system. It floats in space, then it emits a propulsion flame and begins a descent down to a nearby planet seemingly being steered and propelled under its own power. It reaches the atmosphere of the planet, friction flames begin to gather around it. Inside, Ian guides it effortlessly even though it is surrounded by flames. As it slows enough to dissipate the friction flames a parachute opens slowing the probe even more.

On the planet below (Tatooine) the probe lands like a ship complete with landing gear. A hatch opens. Ian climbs out still hanging on to Exit. He looks around, a few men walk towards him. One is obviously Basilisk, looks an offal lot like a Rooster. They approach him with caution but they are obviously friendly. Ian is telling them of his escapades on the Imperial ship and how they escaped.

He is brought into town, a place they call the Catacombs. The town is desolate, many businesses out of business thanks to the Empire.

Ian look at the Basilisk man. "Business looks bad."

"Business is bad." The Basilisk says.

The other men look on but don't say anything.

Ian looks around, it's a ghost town complete with wind and tumble weeds. "What kind of businesses survive around here?"

The Basilisk man thinks, he rubs his chin. "Bars I guess."

Ian thinks. "Then a Bar it is." He pauses, "Are any of these places for sale?"

The Basilisk man looks at the other men with him. They shrug their shoulders.

"Most any of them I assume. And you probably don't need a lot of capital. Say, if you happen to run into someone who can fix all this, meaning shut down the Empire forever, send him my way would ya?" Says the Basilisk man.

"Sure, and the same goes for me. I'm pretty good with mechanics. Maybe I can help." Says Ian.

Ian wanders around the town talking to the few people that are still there. He finds a place that he can build into a drinking establishment that is empty and belongs to a local man but the man said he could have it for free but if the business goes good, then he could start paying rent. He begins to order the favorite drinks of the locals and puts a makeshift sign out front indicating that a bar has just opened, or will open once the alcohol shows up. It's a musty, dusty place but perfect for a bar. He spies out the place, it's complete with a hall that houses rooms. The rooms are simple but will accommodate Exit and he, for the time being. There's what was once an opening at the end of the musty hall. Ian figures he has nothing to lose and begins breaking open the opening. When he finally breaks through, there's a small cave carved in the rock. He ignites his flash light and crawls in. When he gets through, it opens up into a huge room carved into the small mountain behind his place. He looks up, the top of the room is rock but he contrives a plan to open it up where he can come and go almost undetected by making it into a camouflaged door. There's no power in the space but Ian knows how to correct that.

First he has to put Exit back together. She's in bad shape, they were going to disassemble her and melt down her parts for recycle. They took out her power source so he has to figure out how to replace it. He goes to the probe he rigged to escape. Nothing there, he would need to travel somewhere to get the parts for a power source for her. No way to travel except… the probe could be reconstructed to at least get him to a place where he could find a better mode of transportation. No way to move it into the large space under the mountain so he starts to work on it right there. He goes to some of the locals and gets laser welders and cutters. The locals are curious and go out to the probe with him to see what he's doing. At first they think he's just a hermit that thinks he knows what he's doing. They soon find out that he not only knows what he's doing but is very good at it. After several days Ian reconstructs the probe into a small traveling vessel. All are impressed to say the least. One night while he and a lot of the locals are sitting around a camp fire, one of the locals, an old man named Zae Arrel asks Ian what he used to do. Ian thinks for a moment, then decides to risk it. He goes on to tell them about all the things that happened to him during his travels… He begins by explaining to them that he was trained at the Academy. He then tells them how he vowed never to build a bad ship. Unfortunately the Empire recognized that and tried to force him to work for them. To make a long story short, they asked him to build three probes. He escaped during an invasion by the Rebel Alliance in the third of the three probes which he just repurposed into a ship to which he wants to use to travel through space to find a better vessel for traveling. At that point he would set up a lab, doesn't say where, build better ships and fix his girl friend. Those around him are shocked at that but they won't be when they see her.

Then he makes a request of them, "You cannot tell anyone about me. If you do, the Empire will come here, make slaves of you and kill me. And all I want to do is be free to open a bar."

Everyone agrees, he doesn't see anyone objecting. He figures he's good but if he's not then he determines that his life will end sooner than later. At the end of the night Ian returns to his old building, checks on Exit, who still lays lifeless in one room. He goes to the room next to hers, finds some old rags and goes to sleep.

On Magus, Ian's father is considering his sons position. But he's old and needs help. He asks a Magusian friend of his **,** **Frax Xemo** , to help. Frax is an older Magusian but not nearly as old as Renn. Renn tells Frax about Ian's situation and that he wants to travel to Corellia to make sure Ian is ok. Frax tells Renn that he must go before the Magusian interstellar council to ask permission. Ian's father knows that his son has a prominent position there on Corellia but also knows that, according to Ian, there has been some trouble on that planet concerning the Empire. Renn knows, according to Ian, that Ian is a government official but opposes the Empire. What Renn doesn't know is how much trouble Ian is really in. He doesn't know that the Empire kidnapped him, beat him, forced him to build ships and probes for them and that he escaped to Tatoinne and lives as a bartender there now. Frax agrees with Renn having met Ian, that there are concerns and that something needs to be done. Frax goes before the council. He makes the request for Renn noting all of the things Renn has told him about Ian. The council explains that it needs to confer and that they will get back with Frax about their decision. Several days later a member of the council shows up at Frax' home. Renn just happens to be there. The member, a Magusian by the name of **Maco Spero** , who brings up some of the things that the two men need to be aware of.

"The Corellian's may be involved with or may be being ruled by the Empire. That the Empire is noted to be very devious and dangerous. There is really nothing the Magusian's can do if the two are taken or killed. That they must not, under any circumstances divulge the where-abouts of Magus or it's technologies. Magus is not known by anyone in that Galaxy except Ian. And they have to trust that Ian will not divulge this either." Says Maco.

Renn tells Maco, who works from a translator device, that Ian has sworn secrecy. The councilman isn't convinced. Renn further explains that Magus is a secret that Ian wants to keep all to himself for future technology needs. This time the councilor agrees and gives them a pass to leave Magus. Renn tells Frax that he has taken one of the lab ships and reconfigured it to fit in one of the cubes. Frax is glad, they don't want to expose the main ship to anyone in that Galaxy Cygnus A again. The two make for the lab, the ship that Renn altered looked like a U-wing but different. Not a lot of room but it would do. And… it was fast. They used their type of transfer droid to move the ship into a cube, zapped the cube which appeared within the vent system of the large ship and they pulled out with Renn at the helm. No one knew of their travels. Even the Empire was not aware of their coming.

They had some knowledge of the coordinates of Corellia which were good enough. And sure enough, the trip would take several months. It would take awhile to get to the edge of the galaxy and then awhile to get to Corellia. Once they'd arrived in Corellian space a voice came over their comm.. asking what their purpose was for entering Corellian space. They answered back but had no idea what the proper response was. Two Corellian authority ships were sent to their position to escort them in. They had to land in an uncut field. The sun was almost never out on Corellia. It was almost always overcast or raining. The two disembarked and were met by Corellian authorities. They were brought to the Corellian Authorities office and questioned per their intentions. Renn told them that he was looking for Ian Bartholomew, the great ship builder. This raised some red flags, making them wonder why they were looking for him in particular. Frax didn't speak, he let Renn do all the talking. Flax was huge and a master at war and fighting. Authorities with the Empire were notified. In the mean time they were asked why common people would have the audacity to ask for a conference with the master ship builder. It was like me, the author, asking to speak to the president. He probably wouldn't be bothered and there was about a Million to one chance that he would see them anyway. Renn tried the "It's very Important." Line but they really didn't care. One of the men doing the questioning asked them to tell him what they wanted. Their mission was confidential, for his ears only. About that time several Empire officials entered the room. They were dressed like Imperial officers. The regular Corellian authorities immediately backed off. An Imperial officer by the name of **Jagged Hentz** approached them. Obviously very high ranking.

He smiled as he questioned them. "I am Colonel Jagged Hentz. I am the leading authority here on Corellia representing the Galactic Empire."

They all shake hands.

"Curious, why are you here to see… well… quite frankly one of our leading government officials and our leading ship builder?" The colonel asks.

Renn looks at Frax then at the officer, not sure what or how much to say. "We… want him… to build a ship… for us."

"Well then you need to talk to the Corellian ship sales personnel." The Colonel says, knowing that's not really what they want.

Renn is still somewhat hesitant about what to say. "No…" he looks at Frax, "We were… told to speak to… Dr. Bartholomew himself."

"Well, I don't know who told you that but I assure you, he doesn't see just anyone. You would have to make an appointment and then you would have to have a good reason for talking to him." Says the Colonel.

Renn thinks, "It's kind of embarrassing but… we heard he was… missing. To tell you the truth, we're looking for him.

The Colonel stands pondering for a second. Then decides to bait the two men. "To tell you the truth… he's not here. He is, indeed missing. He has been an integral part of the Corellian ship works and we are concerned as well."

No one questions the Colonel but those around him wondered why he would be so truthful about such a thing. Renn and Frax look at each other.

"Oh, I was sure that wasn't true. I'm actually surprised that it is. Do you have any idea where he might be?" Asks Renn.

"No, we were hoping you might know." Say the Colonel.

Renn and Frax stand up. "No, we have no knowledge of his where-abouts either. Well, we will not bother you any longer..." The colonel cuts him off.

"…You must stay. We have great accommodations." Says the Colonel

"No, we really must go." Says Renn

The other Imperial officers in the room pull their blasters and point them at Renn and Frax. Frax is concerned now, ready to do battle. Renn puts his hand on Frax' wrist, indicating that he needs to stand down for the moment.

"We insist." Says the Colonel. "As a matter of fact, the Dr. is very important to us. You're asking about him makes us leery of you. If upon findings prove you are no threat to the Dr. we will let you go but for now, you are our guests."

Frax chimes in, "Guests don't get treated like this where I come from."

"And where do you come from my friend, you don't look like any species I've ever seen?" The Colonel asks.

"That is not for public…" Renn cuts him off.

"He is… **Shi'ido."** Renn answers.

"Let him answer for himself." The Colonel demands.

"I know Shi'ido and he doesn't look like any Shi'ido I've ever seen." Another Imperial officer says.

"Then you haven't met all the Shi'ido." Frax answers in somewhat of a calm but insistent voice.

The two men are ushered out of the room and put in a holding cell for the time being. Frax isn't happy. He was not expecting to be detained so soon in their travels. Renn is thinking, he tells Frax that when things are shut down, there will most likely not be so much security around. He recommends that, the time would be a good use his destructive right arm to smash the cell open. Frax calms and sits indicating that he agrees with Renn.

When evening falls, the lights are dimmed. The two act as though they are sleeping. After a few hours of shut down time, Renn and Frax quietly get up and step toward the entrance to the cell. The cell opening is actually blocked by a Ray Shield. But the wall on the side of the cell leads to another cell and there is no Ray Shield covering that opening. Frax tells Renn that it will make a lot of noise. Renn says that he is aware of that, that he was hoping that Frax could use his arm to strike down any that might oppose them. He shrugs his shoulders, just making sure that Renn understood that, that might happen. Renn assures him, he's ready. Frax stands back from the wall, rears back and let's his fist fly. The wall is thick and it takes several hits to open it up. Frax works fast, when the wall is open the two make for the access to the building they are in. When they reach the front access to the building that door is locked as well. Frax pounds it open. Two Corellian guards fire on them. Frax picks up a rock and with great strength and accuracy, propels the rock at the two guards. It hits one of the guards knocking him backwards about ten feet. The other guard is shocked that someone would be so accurate from such a distance and at night. It's enough time for Frax and Renn to get close to him. Renn distracts him by calling out. The guard looks, takes aim and Frax knocks him out. Frax picks up the guards weapon. Renn picks up the other one. No safety, both weapons work no matter who fires them. More guards come on the scene and fire at Renn and Frax. The two men fire back while they dash into the clutter of rusty ship parts piled so neatly around the facility. They move quickly, they run for awhile. Finally Renn finds an old ship that has its entrance hatch partially open. He tries to open it enough for them to climb in but it's stuck, probably rusted in position. Frax sees Renn struggling with it, climbs up and rips the hatch open with his great arm, the two jump in to hide. What they didn't realize was that Corellia had its own species of wild life. They had climbed in with a family of Chippa's. And like most wildlife, they don't like people getting too close when they have young around. A growl alerts them to the fact that they are intruding. Chippa's like most wild life will generally run the other direction if a man comes too near. They're sort of like a shark, land dwelling, nocturnal, meat eaters and known to be quite ferocious when cornered. Renn and Frax both shine their lights on the animals. They both back up slowly, rifles pointed at the beasts that growl angrily. Frax climbs out of the hatch first. Ian stands under the hatch not sure what to do. He knows if he turns his back they'll jump him. Suddenly Renn feels a tug on the back of his shirt. Frax lifts him out of the hatch. They jump down and start for a different place to hide. Frax halts Ian for a second.

"They're probably tracking us." Says Frax.

"Possibly." Says Renn.

"Take off your scarf." Says Frax.

"Take off my… why me? Renn asks.

"You're the only one wearing something that isn't completely necessary." Answers Frax.

"Not ne… My grandmother gave me this." Renn says defensively.

"It looks like something your grandmother gave you." Says Frax.

Renn unwraps it from around his neck and hands it to Frax. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Frax looks at the scarf. "Humans, like Magusian's bury their dead, do they not?"

"Yes." Replies Renn.

"They should have buried this scarf with her." Answers Frax.

"I… my grandmother would have kicked you…" Frax interrupts Renn.

"…Your grandmother would have never worn that. No wonder she gave it to you."

"You know Frax, sometimes you can be a real pain in the…" Renn cuts himself off when Frax tosses the scarf into the Chippa den.

"Come, we must keep moving." Says Frax ignoring the fact that he has just thrown Renn's scarf where Renn would not every likely recover it. He begins jogging deeper into the junk yard.

A posy from the Empire comes about an hour behind them. They have hunting cobs with them. Cobs are only similar to dogs in that they have a keen sense of smell and men can trust them… mostly. The cobs alert to the old rusty ship. The ranking member of the Posy orders two storm troopers to go in after them. The Storm Troopers being the type of soldiers that never argue with orders, climb into the old ship. The rest of the posy waits outside. Before long they hear… "Oh shit!" from inside. Followed by ferocious growls and screams. The cobs are terribly frightened. The Malay goes on for a couple of minutes. Then silence followed by crunching and chewing noises.

The farther Renn and Frax wander into the endless junkyard, the more vegetation has grown up around the junk. They both surmise that this junk has been here for some time. Some of the vegetation becomes forest. It's darker because of the shade. The path they travel becomes thickets. Renn and Frax have great difficulty pushing forward. Frax is in the lead and finally decides to get down and crawl. Renn sees this and at first is reluctant to follow but then realizes that Frax is crawling along rather easy. Most of the vegetation is hanging from the trees as opposed to coming up from the ground. Renn gets down and begins crawling as well. They end up crawling for at least two miles. Renn finally grabs Frax by the foot. He indicates via sign language that he's pooped and needs to rest. Frax agrees. They clear a spot of the vegetation and start a fire. Night is closing in. Frax finally lays down and goes to sleep. Renn watches him wondering how he can be so sure that nothing will happen to him while he sleeps. When morning comes Renn, who has been awake all night keeping guard, wiggles Frax' foot. Frax wakes up slowly at first. Then rouses quickly to the sound of someone hacking through the thicket. He pulls his rifle out in front of him. The hacking sound is coming from all around them.

"Stop or I'll shoot!" Frax yells.

The sound stops. Whoever was coming has stopped. Renn and Frax look around. They can see nothing. Frax begins carefully gathering up their things. He signals for Renn to follow him. He begins crawling under the vegetation. They've crawled several a good distance and nothing has happened. They didn't see anything. Frax smiles seemingly re-assured that they've crawled past whatever it was. And whatever it was is satisfied that they've moved on. Then Renn feels a foot on his back and something sharp against his head. Frax keeps crawling until he realizes that Renn is not behind him anymore. He hacks some of the vegetation out of the way and stands up.

"Renn… Renn… where are you?" Frax questions in a quiet tone. He doesn't hear anything. He turns around and that's when all hell breaks loose. Men, natives of sorts attack him. Frax is a trained soldier. He is able to thwart the attacks of several of them but eventually someone gets his ankles. His feet are pulled out from under him. More of the native men pounce on him. He hasn't stopped fighting yet. Frax, with his great arm, tosses several of them off. He strikes several before someone knocks him almost clean out by hitting him in the head with a big stick. When he awakes, he sees Renn tied up to a tree about fifty feet away. He suddenly realizes that he is bound as well. They've been brought into a clearing. Frax can still see the old junk laying around. But where they are, the junk has all been moved making way for flowers, trees and shrubs as well as what seems to be the domains of the native families. Some native children run up. Very dirty and smelly but just as happy as children always seem to be. The children observe the foreigners. They don't have much on and look like one would assume a native child would look. Something whisks past Frax, then it whisks past Renn. Something whisks past Frax again and his bindings fall to the ground. It whisks past Renn, his bindings also fall off. They don't say anything but they're watching each other, not sure what to do next. They suddenly get their answer, what or whoever it was whisks past Renn again but this time, Renn's arm is cut. It was so fast that Renn didn't even feel whatever it was that cut him. It whisks past him again cutting him again on the same arm. Several more times the seemingly invisible entity flies past Renn cutting him each time it goes by. Frax begins to yell toward Renn.

"Come get me you bastard!" Yells Frax.

Frax got heard, whatever it was that cut Renn, now zoomed past Frax cutting his arm. The mistake the entity made was that it didn't cut Frax' jacked arm. Frax can see by the movement of vegetation around them that the entity was coming again. The other mistake that it made was that Frax' jacked arm was loose. Frax holds out his huge arm, stiffens it and blocks the entity from going by. The little native pygmy hits Frax' arm and like a large clothes line, he is stopped dead. He hits Frax' arm so hard that it spins Frax around. The little native man stands staggering with all the life knocked out of him. He falls on his back out cold. A small knife falls out of his hand. Frax looks down at the little man. Renn, holding his bleeding arm, runs over to see what it was that cut him. The little natives surround them also looking down at the flattened man. One of the more prominent looking natives looks up at Frax.

"What?" Frax asks him in a somewhat frustrated tone.

The apparent leader obviously didn't speak the same language but none of them seemed threatening now. The leader, looking at Frax, shrugs his shoulders. He looks down at the downed man. He's still out cold. Frax decides to take matters into his own hand. He backhands one of the natives standing next to the leader just in case they weren't convinced that Frax actually did what he did. The native people back up being somewhat shocked at Frax' show of force. As time passes the little natives decide that Renn and Frax are ok. Not that they had much of a choice. They shared food which wasn't what Renn or even Frax would normally eat, but being the dignified people that they were, they didn't want to offend so they ate, reluctantly but they ate. They were presented with a small skit which told them a little more about the culture. Including their history of adapting to the planetary junk yard. Renn had a theory that the apparent similarity in bodily appearance meant that at one time, the Corellians were descendants of the native tribes. But that didn't explain the ability the natives seemed to have to run faster than wind itself. After a couple of days, and after Renn being the scientist that he sort of is, tried to determine which of the little people was female. It looked to him as though both male and female shared the responsibility of tending the children, which didn't look like they'd had much tending at all. Anyway, the natives let them go. So Frax and Renn cordially said goodbye and headed toward the Corellian epicenter.

As they leave, Renn passes along more of his theory about the pygmy's to Frax.

"I noticed nothing that would indicate a super ability to move so quickly." Says Renn.

"Maybe only one of them has this ability." Says Frax.

"Maybe." Renn says puzzling.

Word got out that someone had infiltrated the Corellian ship works. The news is communicated through news sources. Ian gets wind of it, it is early at the bar, a box of liquor sits atop the counter where the locals belly up. The box says, "Royal Interest – Sweet." The box has been sitting there for weeks. Ian has taken on the name of "Sweet" and Renames the bar "Sweets". Several of the locals stop in for coffee but Ian has Exit over his shoulder and locks the door as he's leaving. The locals are confused. The bar is closed until further notice. They watch Ian as he runs off with Exit. He runs to the field where his make shift ship sits. It's not finished but he decides he has no time, throws Exits lifeless body in, closes the hatch and hopes for the best. The ship comes to life and Ian quickly flies it out of the atmosphere and into space towards Corellia.

In the mean time, Renn and Frax are hid out in the old ship. They take turns sleeping and when they're both awake and somewhat rested, they begin to make plans to escape. The Empire now has several units of Imperial Soldiers and Storm Troopers looking for them. Colonel Hentz is frustrated about the news getting out and has to answer to the highest authority in the Empire ranks. The Imperial officials and Darth Sidious appear on Holo. Darth Sidious is part of the questioning, the Colonel assures them that the two prisoners will be found. Darth Sidious doesn't care, he doesn't like it when someone fails him. He reaches out through the Force and cooks the Colonel to death. Corellian and Imperial officials watch as the Colonel roasts right before their eyes then falls dead in a smoldering heap. Another Imperial official steps up to the Holo device and assures them that the prisoners are currently being searched for and will be found. Darth Sidious hopes so for his sake. The Imperial official shrinks at the idea that he might be cooked next.

Ian is running low on fuel. He sees a nearby planet on his scanner but it has never been visited by anyone of importance. The planet database simply says, 9WUP15150971. Meaning it has been recorded but never visited. It's in sector 9W, the UP stands for Unobserved Planet and is the 15 millionth, one hundred and fifty thousandth, nine-hundred and seventy first planet recorded but unvisited by anyone in the galaxy. There are about another three billion unobserved planets listed and about another four billion planets recognized by the Old Republic planet database. Ian reads his panel. From a long distance his panel indicates that the air on the planet is breathable, and that there is life on it. When he gets closer he scans the planet again. This time the scanner says that the beings are Sentient. Ian opens a channel to the planet hoping that someone there speaks his language. A response, they don't speak his language but they speak one similar to one he knows. He is able to put together what they are saying and puts together a message that he needs a to save one of his crew, that he would explain further upon landing, they permit him. When he lands he opens the hatch with Exit over his shoulder. The planet terrain looks strange as do the indigenous species though they seem to stand upright. They watch him climb down in amazement. The fact that Exit looks like his species and is lifeless is somewhat disconcerting to them. He speaks to one of them in a broken dialect. They have some trouble communicating but Ian finally thinks they understand. They lead him to a strange building where one of the species stands holding a device. Ian holds Exits lifeless body in front of the being. The being has others help him as Exit is too heavy for one of them to carry. They bring her inside and lay her face down on a table of sorts. The being with the device seems to want to know where her power pack would be located. Ian shows them, it's under the skin at the base of the back of her neck. The skin has to be cut in order to access it. He carefully opens it with a scalpel of sorts. The original pack was removed leaving an empty space where it used to be. The being looks at Ian with an "I don't know if I can help you," look. He scans the area, reaches in and pulls out a circuit board that has contacts for the power pack. The being then appears to be perusing some stock that he has on shelves. Most of the stock is old, dusty and looking pretty out of date. He finally stops and pulls out a device which Ian has never seen before, it looks almost alive. He puts it in her power pack cavity and re-inserts the circuit board. He closes up the skin with a type of glue and stands her up. Ian reaches behind her head and switches her on. She comes to life but seems to have to adapt to the new type of power pack. Ian talks to her…

"Exit?" He asks her.

She looks at him, very robotically but doesn't answer. The being tries to explain in his language that "She will be able to survive on the power pack that he put in her but she might not remember anything until Ian can put a proper one in her." Ian is struggling to understand, she understands perfectly and translates for him. But again she sounds very robotic and doesn't know anyone including Ian. Ian tries several different commands that he knows…

"Access, Bus, Pipe, calculate, install, Input…" He voices.

Nothing seems to work. He looks at them, satisfied but has nothing to pay them with. One of the beings notices a necklace that Ian is wearing. He removes a necklace from around his neck and hands it to the being that he was working with. The being looks at it, then smiles and nods his head at Ian in the affirmative. Ian smiles and carries Exit back on the ship. The being stops them just before they board. He ushers them to a much more complete, strange looking but modern vessel. Ian has never seen one before and has no idea how to operate it. The being tells Ian in his own language to just give it verbal commands and it will do what he says, Exit translates. Ian decides that if Exit can translate, that the vessel will be fine. He asks how far it will travel with the two of them aboard. Exit translates; the vessel will take you as far and as fast as you need to go until it dies. "It dies?" Ian thinks. What does that mean?

"It dies?" Ian asks the being. Exit translates

Through Exit, the being explains that the vessel is alive so to speak. It sustains itself by taking in Oxygen and can survive on a very small amount for a very long time. He further explains that the vessel has a name and all commands should be followed by its name even in space. The name of the vessel is: " **Solari**."

Ian looks at the vessel, asks it to open its access port, Exit translates ending with "Solari," and the vessel opens. The two board, bid the beings farewell and the vessel takes off. Ian gives it coordinates, Exit translates and the vessel begins to move. He asks it for all speed ahead, Exit translates and the vessel jumps to hyper speed.

Frax and Renn have walked far.

"We have to find a way off this planet." Says Renn in a low tone.

"Ya think?" Says Frax sarcastically.

As they move in the direction of one of the facilities, they hear voices and have to change their course some.

Ian tells Exit that he needs to fix some of her systems. She asks why, he explains to her that she was different before. She asks how, he explains that he really doesn't have time to explain. She tells him that messing with her memory systems is not advisable. He insists that he is very good at fixing droids. She says that because of the power pack that has been installed in her, that any attempt to change her settings could be disastrous. Ian tells her that he's willing to take that chance. She relents and turns her back to him so that he can shut her down. He shuts her down, she collapses in his arms, he lays her down on the floor gently. He cuts open the power pack covering and begins to work on it. To Ian's surprise, the power pack takes the shape of a hand and grabs him… tight. Exit turns her head and looks at him…

"What are you trying to do?" She asks with a strange voice.

Ian thinks while at the same time, wincing at the pain from the grip on his wrist. "Is this the power pack I'm speaking to or the robot?"

She replies, "Both."

"Please let go, I mean you no harm. I am simply attempting to change the parameters of the power pack to resemble her own so that she will remember me." Says Ian.

At first there is a pause. Ian thinks maybe it didn't understand, then it speaks through Exit's mouth, "Are you qualified to perform such a procedure?"

Ian in great pain shakes his head in the affirmative. The voice emitting through Exit says, "I cannot hear your head shaking, is that affirmative or negative?"

"Affirmative, affirmative!" He answers sharply.

The hand lets go of Ian's wrist and retains its original shape. Ian looks at it, he tries to lift it out. Now Exit grabs his wrist but not nearly as tight.

"I will help you." She says in the strange voice.

"That would be… great." Ian replies.

Frax and Renn are moving covertly through the rusty junk. They come upon a facility in the distance and stop hiding behind some of the piled up parts.

"Now what?" Asks Frax.

"I don't know, what do I look like?" Replies Renn.

Frax looks at him then replies, "Like an old man that doesn't know what he's doing."

Renn looks back at him with a sarcastic look, "Very funny."

Frax is looking around, "There doesn't seem to be anyone around, how about we make a break for that access way over there?"

Ian looks, he sees the access that Frax is talking about. Ian looks around. "I think you're right, let's go for it."

The two take a last look around and cautiously but quickly run for the access way. Normally it would open automatically but is stays closed as they get near it. There is an air vent in the upper portion of the door. Renn tries to move it by just pushing on it. Frax moves Renn out of the way, he pounds his fist through the vent and with his massive arm and pulls the door open. Ian is sure they've been heard but as he looks around, no one appears, the two walk in. They move through the corridors until they reach an elevator. The elevator is active, the doors open and they step inside.

"We need to find a space port, there should be ships there. We can hot wire one and get the heck out of here." Says Renn as they rise.

"What makes you think it would be on the top floor?" Frax asks.

"They're always on the top floor." Say Renn.

"Oh." Says Frax.

When the doors open on the top floor, Renn and Frax pear out to see if anyone is around. The corridor is empty. Frax thinks this is strange but follows Renn hoping he knows what he's doing. They walk a ways, the facility they're in is quite large. Ian opens one door and looks in, Frax looks over his shoulder. It opens into a factory area but the lights are off and all the machines are shut down. They back out and close the door. Renn moves further down the corridor, Frax follows. They finally come to a large door. It's heavily armored and appears to open upward. Ian moves to the access panel and tries to open it. Frax backs up to the other side of the doorway preparing to fire if necessary. The door opens in an instant. They pear in. Ian points indicating that he's discovered something. As they try to prance in, Imperials and Storm Troopers begin to fire on them. They fire back but have to back track quickly down the corridor that they came through. All hell has broken loose! Laser bolts come from all directions. The two hide behind objects in the corridor and return fire. Before long they realize that the Imperials must have known they were coming because they're being fired on from both directions. The two have no choice but to give up.

The Imperial and Storm Troopers hold them at gun point. Darth Sidious appears.

"Who are you?" He asks.

The two don't answer. Darth Sidious, through the Force, crinkles up Frax' rifle. He drops it shocked by what is happening to it. Ian lowers his to the ground and drops it. They both have their hands up.

"I'll ask again, who are you?" Darth Sidious asks.

Renn speaks first, "I'm Renn Bartholomew."

Darth Sidious has to think. "Bartholomew, Bartholomew," He looks at one of the Imperial officers next to him who is holding a blaster on the two. "Isn't that the name of our missing Master Ship Builder?"

"Yes… yes sir. Ian Bartholomew I believe sir." The officer replies.

"Yesss. What relation are you?" Darth Sidious asks.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about." Says Renn.

Darth Sidious uses the Force to smash him into the ceiling, letting him fall to the floor. Renn, as old as he is, is easily maimed. Frax kneels down to see if his friend is ok.

"What about you, who are you?" Darth asks.

Frax looks at him in discussed, "Can't you see that he is old, why must you treat him that way?"

Darth Sidious uses the Force and smashes Frax against the ceiling, then lets him fall to the ground. Then Frax is picked up and thrown down the corridor to crash against a stationary object there. Darth Sidious walks up to where Ian is attempting to regain his composure and climb back to his feet. Darth Sidious uses the Force to flatten him again. The old man goes down as though some heavy invisible object has just been dropped on top of him. He goes down with a grunt!

"Maybe I wasn't clear the first time. What relation are you…" Renn interrupts him.

"…His father damn you. I'm his father." Renn finally gives in to Darth Sidious' control over his mind.

Frax is standing up in the background. Though our view of him in the background is blurred it is apparent that Darth Sidious casts him against the object again. He falls forward and to the floor.

Renn sees this out of the corner of his eye, "Leave him alone, I'm the one you want!"

"Pick them both up, put them in Irons and put them in a holding facility. Make it known that we have the Master Ship Builders father. His son will surely come looking for him and when he does, we'll have him, and then… we'll kill him." Says Darth Sidious.

"But sir, if…" Darth Sidious cuts the officer off.

"…We don't need him and he'll just try to escape again. He's more trouble than he's worth. We may not have a great ship builder but neither will anyone else. And… we have the specs for the new space station."

"I see sir, very good." The officer issues orders to some of the men around him. "Bind them and take them to the local holding facility."

The two men are hauled up by their arms and escorted off. The Imperial Soldiers arrive at the containment area with the two prisoners. Others come out with what appear to be shackles. The two prisoners are sat down in chairs. They shackle the hands of Frax first. He appears awake now and holds his shackled hands in the air. Everyone stops and looks at him including Renn. Frax then pulls his hand apart in opposite directions. With little effort, he breaks the shackles apart, knocks down to two soldiers next to him, grabs one of the rifles and begins to fire. The other soldiers and Storm Troopers fire back but neither of our two hero's are hit. They take cover behind another object just outside the room.

"What the hell made you do that?" Renn asks.

"If I'm going to go down, I'm going to go down fighting." Says Frax.

Renn shrugs his shoulders like, "Hey, it's not a good reason but it's a reason."

Renn and Exit then fire back as well. The two are in a shoot out with the Imperials but hopelessly outnumbered. The battle goes on for several minutes but it becomes clear that the Imperials will soon have the upper hand. Renn is about to give up when laser bolts come from a different direction. The Imperials are stumped and in their surprise, are gunned down by Ian and Exit.

Ian comes running out with Exit at his side. "Heard you were here dad."

"Came here to save you son." Renn says.

"Good, let's get out of here." Ian replies.

As they're running, "Never done that before." Says Exit to Ian.

Outside they approach the strange ship that Ian and Exit came in. Renn has to stop and look at it. Ian sees him…

"Dad, we're kind of in a hurry!" Ian orders.

Renn begins to run again. The ramp up to the entrance of the ship opens. They're all just about on board when several laser bolts fly at them. One of them unfortunately catches Renn in the back. He goes down. Ian stops at the bottom of the ramp and sees his father lying on the ground. He yells for Renn! More laser bolts come at them. Ian and Exit fire back, now the battle has come outside. The sun is shining but the moment is grim. Ian and Exit pull Renn up the ramp, laser bolts flying. Frax went in just before them. He turns the ships weapons on the Imperials and fires causing great eruptions in front of them, causing them to duck and run for cover. The Imperials have several AT-ST walkers which aren't affected by the explosions. The Walkers fire on the strange ship. Frax fires again but only a few Imperial ground troops are affected, the Walkers continue to fire. Suddenly, out of nowhere and seemingly invisible, something blows past the front line of Imperial ground troops, slashing them fatally, giving Ian and his gang a chance. Ian watches, Frax knows exactly what's going on. The troops are stunned. The invisible force attacks again cutting down the second line. Frax fires on one of the Walkers, destroying it and causing the others to be pushed off their metal footed accesses. Some of the Walkers regain they're stance. More of the invisible force, this time apparently more of them, attack the rest of the Imperial ground troops. Frax fires on another Walker destroying it. The ramp of the **Solari** lifts, the main door closes, all while the ship takes off. Inside, Ian and Exit kneel next to Renn. Frax watches out the front window. A man appears almost out of nowhere. It's the native man that originally attacked them. The rest of the native tribe starts to appear as they end the ground troops waving goodbye. Frax waves back.

Renn speaks to Ian with his dying breath. "Sorry son, wasn't supposed to happen like this."

Ian is crying, "It's ok dad, we're going to get you some help."

Renn looks at Exit, "She's cute son, not real but definitely cute."

Exit smiles enjoying Renn's praises.

"No son, it's bad, I don't think we're going back together." Renn says.

"Dad… please, don't talk like that, I've hardly gotten to know you." Says Ian through his tears.

Frax looks back. Outside, Tie fighters attack, firing on the strange ship. "What do I do?"

Ian calls to the controls, he's pissed "Destroy, destroy!"

Exit commandingly translates in the ships language.

Ship replies in a soft female voice, "Attempting to destroy attacking vessels."

The ship fires on the Tie Fighters, they're no match for the seemingly living ship as they are destroyed right off. Ian instructs the ship to go back to Tatoinne. Exit runs up by him and issues commands in the ships language again. The ship dashes off into space at light speed. Now Frax kneels down by Ian and his father.

"Frax, why didn't you make him stay back?" Ian asks blaming Frax for his father's wound.

"I tried Ian, he wouldn't listen."

"No Ian, it's not his fault, I insisted, it's my fault son." Says Renn but he has to force out his last words. Renn closes his eyes and dies.

Frax looks at Ian but before he can speak, Ian runs away turning his back on Frax. Exit looks at Frax with pity in her eyes, she knows it really wasn't Frax' fault. Frax looks down at Renn, Renn is dead.

"Goodbye my old friend." Says Frax to Renn one last time.

Darth Sidious is furious, this is the second time prisoners have escaped. He wants to kill someone but he is responsible this time. A lower ranking Imperial officer walks by, Darth Sidious reaches out with the Force. The young officer stops, he has a terrified look on his face. He begins to shake and cry out. His face turns bright red, smoke begins to rise up from the openings in his uniform. His cries become gurgles, his skin turns black, his entire body, uniform and all, bursts into flames. Darth Sidious let's go of the man. He falls to the floor dead and smoldering. His uniform is still burning. Several Imperials around Darth Sidious look shocked but glad it wasn't one of them.

"Now I feel better." Says Darth Sidious, paying no attention to what he has just done.

Darth Sidious then instructs those around him to follow him to a meeting room. When they arrive in the meeting room all sit, Darth Sidious stands pacing back and forth in front of them.

"Plan, plan, we must plan, and this time no one will fail me. That ship builder will be mine or he will be no one's!" Says the Sith.

One of the officers dares to speaks up, "Maybe sir, we could use more like yourself. A person who has power over the Force like you do."

"My thoughts exactly, I will contact help, we will plan and we will get Bartholomew or we will kill him.

One of the High ranking officers speaks up. "Sir, if I may, we've killed his father. The Dr. might be looking for revenge, especially if we did, in fact, kill his father. He may come to us."

Darth Sidious looks at the officer as he ponders. "You might be right, in fact, the force has revealed to me that someone will come and attempt to attack us. I will pursue this by meditating on the Dark Side more. It may reveal more to me about future events."

"Yes sir." The officer says.

Yoda, in the lead ship of a group of ships nears Geonosis. The helmsman of his ship gets a warning that a vessel of un-known origin has locked on to them and armed its weapons. Yoda orders the vessel disabled but not destroyed if possible. It's one of the Imperial probes. They see it and fire on it attempting to disable its weapons and propulsion but rather that be caught it incorporates a self-destruct and explodes in front of them. The on board space monitor tells Yoda that they did in fact disable it but it self-destructed. Yoda understands. Another probe is discovered but Yoda hesitates to try again. He decides that they need to scan the planet for life signs. They do so but the scans reveal a large population, too many to figure out where the Empire is located. Yoda thinks, what would the Empire have that would give them a positive scan? Yoda decides that the only way he can determine their where-abouts is to delve into the Force and see if anyone is meditating in the Dark Side. Yoda goes into a trance. Several other Jedi sense his meditation and join him. Unfortunately Darth Sidious who is powerful with the Dark Side, senses Yoda's trance. Yoda must get out fast but not fast enough. The Alliance position has been discovered. Yoda's Helmsman gets a warning message on his computer that some sort of attack ships are headed their way. Yoda must act fast, he dispatches two Jedi fighters to Rendezvous with the attack ships. In the mean time Yoda, who doesn't know Darth Sidious yet, dispatches his own ship and flies to the surface to meet this person of the Dark Side in battle if necessary. They land in a jungle of sorts. The indigenous species presents is known to the Alliance landing party but they stay hidden and watch. When Yoda exit's his ship, he is acutely aware of the small furry creatures. He senses that the small furry natives don't seem to be a threat to the landing party. Yoda orders some of his team to fan out and search. In space, the two Jedi encounter Tie Fighters. There are about six and they attack immediately. The Jedi take evasive maneuvers and easily destroy the first two. The Tie fighters circle around for another shot. They're not so easy the second time. The Jedi must make use of the Force to finish the attack. More Tie fighters join the fight. The Jedi use the Force to evade the now eight attacking ships. One Jedi, from his cockpit, gets a lock on one of the Tie fighters. He pulls the trigger. Green laser bolts erupt from his guns. Just about that time, two of the Tie fighters are on his tail. He has to break off the attack unable to destroy the ship in his target lock. And just about that time, the two Tie fighters that are on his tail are destroyed by the other Jedi. The Jedi receives explosion warnings. He reaches out with the Force to determine if the two trailing fighters are indeed the ones destroyed. His senses are positive. This all happens in a second and the Tie fighter that he was locked on is barely out of his target area. He re-engages, gets a lock, pulls the trigger, green laser bolts erupt from his guns once again, this time he connects. The Tie fighter explodes, there are only five left. Yoda and his team use scanners but the area is clean. They board the ship and head back for the larger vessel. On the way, they encounter the two Jedi and the Tie fighters. The Tie fighters are busy with the Jedi ships and don't notice Yoda's ship. Yoda orders his ship to lock on to the two Tie fighters left. The two gunners on Yoda's ship each lock onto the remaining Tie fighters. The two Jedi realize this and break off their attack. The Tie fighters are confused about this. The gunners get a target lock. The pilots of the Tie fighters receive a warning that they have been locked onto but it's too late. Both of Yoda's gunners fire almost simultaneously, the green laser bolts make a piffling sound. The two Tie fighters are torn to pieces before they both explode from the attack. The danger has past. The main ship detects an ion trail left by the Tie fighters from their place of origin. Yoda's smaller ship re-enters the larger Alliance vessel and the larger vessel transports to just over the Imperial location on the planet surface. The Imperial presents on the surface is confirmed but two Star Destroyers are alerted to the position and the fight is on. The Alliance vessel has its hands full with the two Star Destroyers. To compound the problem, the second probe is again on the scene and joins the fight against the Large Alliance ship. The alliance ship is taking a pounding and must make a run for it. Its deflector shields are beginning to fail. More Tie fighters join the fight, fire and have an effect but are easily destroyed by the larger Rebel ship. The helmsman boots up the ships main computer and they make the jump to light speed, not a moment too soon. Now the Rebels know of the Imperial position on Geonosis, the fight has just begun and Darth Sidious knows it. The Rebels must be found and destroyed. The Imperial secret weapon, hidden behind one of the larger moons of Geonosis is in its beginning stages of construction. Only time will tell when it will be revealed and when that time comes, the galaxy will be oppressed by its power. The Helmsman on Yoda's vessel gets a proximity warning, they detect that a Star Destroyer is on their tail, Yoda orders his ship out of Light Speed. When they slow to impulse engines the Star Destroyer does the same. It comes out of Light Speed with guns blazing, another drops out of Light Speed by its side and fires as well. Yoda's personal ship is launched. The Alliance ship has some of its deflector shields fixed but moves out of range. In the confusion of the Malay Yoda's ship attaches to the side of the Star Destroyer, the attachment is detected. Darth Sidious assumes this is the attack he saw in the Future of the Dark Side. A unit of Storm Troopers is sent to where Yoda's ship has attached. Yoda uses his light saber to cut a hole in the hull of the Star Destroyer. The men with Yoda jump in shooting. Yoda uses his command of the Force to evade Imperial gunfire by deflecting with his Light Saber or bouncing off the walls to get around them. The Rebels will keep the Storm Troopers busy. Yoda makes his way to the bridge of the ship, having studied a Star Destroyer layout based on the two that were stolen from the Empire. He cuts his way into the bridge, Imperial officer's fire at him. He deflects their shots killing some of them instantly and cutting the rest down with physical attacks. The person he was looking for is not on the bridge. Using his senses he looks for the Sith. His senses tell him that the Sith is right outside the door. Instead of charging through the door, Yoda jabs his Light Saber through the wall hoping to catch the Sith off guard but the Sith, Darth Sidious, is ready. He flips through the air evading Yoda's jab. Yoda jumps outside the room and begins a Light Saber battle with Darth Sidious. At first Darth Sidious is foolish enough to believe that he can beat Yoda but soon finds out that Yoda is not only good with a Light Saber but is probably the best. The two dual on but Yoda is driving him back. Fortunately for Darth Sidious, a group of Imperial soldiers comes around the corner shooting. Yoda, with his powerful command of the Force, detects the onslaught and deflects the shots back killing some of the soldiers. Unfortunately for Yoda, it gives Darth Sidious time to escape. Yoda is fortunate, Darth Sidious chose to run rather than take advantage of the interruption. Yoda cuts all but one of the soldiers down. He lands on top of the man, Light Saber pointed at his throat. Yoda forces him to tell using the Jedi mind trick, where Darth Sidious might have gone to. The soldier tells of where his quarters are. Yoda leaves the man alive and makes his way be through the Ship but detects that Darth Sidious has left the Star Destroyer. Darth Sidious escapes to another Star Destroyer and they flee. Yoda calls for his ship to attach near himself. Shortly the sound of metal against metal is heard. Yoda cuts through the hull opening an exit into his own ship. They detach and make for the main Alliance ship which has dropped out of light speed near them long enough to take Yoda's ship in, then they jump to Light Speed again rather than battle with the Imperial Star Destroyers.

"Back to this position we must come. Much to learn have we from this place. Sense I do, a large disturbance in the Force here." Says Yoda thinking out loud before one of his officers.

"Yes sir, we'll figure out a way to get back into this sector undetected but we need to leave this sector for now." Say the officer.

"Agreed." Says Yoda.

The Jedi mop up the remaining five Tie fighters and make the jump to Light Speed to Rendezvous with Yoda.

On the surface of Deveron Ian has landed near his old home owned by Teel Stalrif. They're home this time. Teel comes out to greet them. The re-union is great, the rest of the Stalrif family comes out. Ian is glad to see them but when Frax comes out they all stop noting the features of this new specie. Exit comes out just after him. Ian is still angry at Frax and rudely ignores him asking Teel if he might enter the home. Teel permits him, Teel's wife invites him in. Teel then introduces himself and his family to Exit and Frax.

"That's not like Ian." Looking at the entrance to the home but talking to Frax.

Frax looks at the door, "He blames me for his father's death."

Teel looks at Frax. "I didn't know Ian's father was still alive."

Frax looks back at him. "Neither did he."

Exit chimes in. "He'll get over it."

"Maybe." Says Frax. "Mr. Stalrif, this is Ian's… girl friend, this is Exit."

Teel looks at her. "Teel, and she's… quite beautiful but she's…"

"…A droid. Yeah, I guess it's a little strange but…" Says Exit as finishes Teel's sentence.

Teel relents, "What the heck, whatever works." Teel changes the subject. "What happened to Ian's father?"

"His father and I were trying to rescue Ian. Ian ended up rescuing us but his father was gunned down in the battle. His body is still on the ship. We need to bury him or encase him in carbonite soon." Says Frax.

"You can bury him here. Pick a place, it really doesn't matter where." Teel responds. "

"I will do so shortly." Says Frax.

"Your Shi'ido, correct? Asks Teel.

"My name is Frax, I'm Magusian, that's all I can say for now." Frax tells him.

"Say no more. So what about her? Teel asks referring to Exit who is walking up to the entrance to the home.

"Apparently, and I don't know the whole story, but apparently she helped him escape from the Empire. That's really all I know." Says Frax.

Teel looks at Frax, "You seem like a good guy, I can't believe you were responsible for Ian's father's death."

"Ian's father was old. I tried to talk him out of going but he insisted." Says Frax.

"You were his friend, you tried." Responds Teel.

"I guess Exit is right, he'll get over it… eventually." Says Frax.

Teel invites him in. In the home, Ian sits talking with Teel's wife and kids. Exit just sits listening. When Teel and Frax walk in, Ian, who was smiling as he told of his tales, suddenly stops smiling and pauses mid-sentence while looking at Frax. He then continues to talk to Teel's wife. Later that night Teel and Ian are alone, they sit and talk together. Ian tells Teel all about what he's been through. Then there is a pause.

"Ian, Frax tells me that you're mad at him because your father was killed." Teel says.

"Yeah, he'd still be alive if Frax left him at home." Says Ian.

"Frax was your father's friend, he came with him." Say Teel.

"If he were such a great friend, he would have made my father stay back." Retorts Ian.

"Then Frax would have had to look for you alone. This was your fathers mission." Says Teel.

"Yeah, I suppose." Says Ian.

"He seems like a good guy." Teel interjects.

Frax is moving supplies to the **Solari**.

"Frax!" Ian calls for Frax.

Frax stops what he's doing and looks over glad to hear Ian calling his name. Ian is approaching and has a pleasant look on his face. "Yes Ian."

Ian walks up to Frax. "Frax, I've been thinking about the way I've been treating you."

"Ian, I un…" Ian interrupts him.

"…No… Frax, it's nice of you to excuse my behavior but I've treated you badly and I know it wasn't your fault. Please forgive me." Ian apologizes.

Frax smiles, "All is forgiven, I loved your father, he will be missed."

Ian smiles and lowers his head. "Yes… yes he will." Ian changes the subject. "Frax, where are you going?"

"I have to go back to Magus and let people know what has happened. Your father had many friends, they will want to know. Besides, we found you and you are what we came for. It's time for me to go back." Says Frax.

"Frax I…" Now Frax interrupts Ian.

"Dr. Bartholomew, you are welcome to come to my planet anytime, visit me, I hope you do." Says Frax.

Ian smiles, they shake hands. Frax continues to load the **Solari**.

Frax is gone and the Solari with him. Ian and Exit are without a ship. Ian would love to get hold of one of the Empire Shuttles again. He approaches Teel, Teel asks if Frax is gone. Ian confirms it. Teel then asks him what is wrong, Ian tells him that nothing is really wrong but they have no way to travel. That's when Teel tells Ian about the old man, **Dodge Kilvaari** in the town of **Mos Eisley** **.** Unfortunately Teel has had some dealings in Mos Eisley, it's a rough town and Teel warns Ian. Ian and Exit go to Mos Eisley to find old Dodge. They go all over town, several of the bars won't let Exit in, a problem with droids or something. One of the bars has some swarthy characters in it and they approach Ian with less than good intentions. They've never seen Ian before and he looks like he might have something they want. A different species, three of them surround Ian and insist he empty his bag and pockets. Ian, ignorant to what evil people do, feels his blaster being pulled out of its holster while they press him. Ian swears he really doesn't have anything, he invites them to come to his bar when he returns. They don't seem to care much about that. Another one of their thug friends brings Exit in by her arm.

"Look what I found waiting outside the bar?" Says the thug.

The bartender tells them that she's not welcome there. One of the thugs points a blaster in the bartenders face and explains that they've changed the rules for the time being. Ian asks them what they want. They laugh, then one of them gets serious and gruff.

"What have ya got?" The thug asks.

Ian tries to explain that everything he has that's of any value is back at his bar in another town. One of the thugs decides that they're going to keep the blaster. The lead thug tells Ian that if he doesn't have anything that they're just going to kill him. Another one points Ian's blaster in his face. The one holding Exit, threatens to destroy her by shooting her with a blaster. Now Ian is pissed, he doesn't care about himself but no-one messes with his Exit. As he looks at the thug holding Exit he changes his facial expression to one of anger. The lead thug sees this and starts to laugh. He points this out to the other thugs and they laugh as well. One of the thugs punches Ian with the handle of his own blaster, Ian goes down. An old man walks up and grabs the arm of a thug about to hit Ian again.

"Why do you want to hit this man again, you've hurt him enough, he's no threat to you?" The old man asks.

The thug pushes the old man back. He can't believe that an old man wouldn't mind his own business, the old man just takes it. Ian sees the thug push the old man, he tries to get up to defend the old man as well, the thug that hit him knocks him down again. Exit yells for him. The thug holding her pulls her back and pushes the blaster against her head. Ian, down for the count but still conscious wants to save her but is too hurt to get up. The old man uses his power over the Force to launch an object on one of the nearby tables at the lead thug hitting him square between the eye's and knocks him clean out. Exit, being a droid and seeing the opportunity disarms the man holding her and throws him backwards. The other two thugs point blasters at the old man. He, dodges one shot, pulls a Light Saber and cuts down the other two thugs. He holsters his Light Saber, the bar tender utters something about cleaning up the mess but the old man ignores him and helps Ian off the floor, Exit helps as well. Ian is looking at Exit in surprise. He can't believe she had made a conscious decision to resort to physical violence to assist the old man, she seems to have forgotten the whole thing. The old man tells Ian as they walks out of the bar that with his power over the Force he can also control droids. Ian is shocked to realize that the old man has power over the Force. As they're walking he postulates that the old man was or is a Jedi.

"My name is **Dodge Kilvaari** **,** I was once a Jedi but I'm too old now. Retired Jedi hide amongst the commoners on different planets." Says Dodge.

"Then I… well I appreciate the help." Says Ian.

"I hear you're looking for me." Says Dodge.

Ian realizes that Dodge is the man Teel told him about. "Yes… yes… Teel told me about you."

"Teel, don't remember anyone by that name." Says Dodge.

"Stalrif… Teel Stalrif. He says you helped him off the planet about twenty years ago." Says Ian.

"I've helped many, I'm sorry, I don't remember him." Says Dodge.

Ian stops and looks serious at Dodge. "Can you help us?"

Dodge looks at Ian and Exit. "I think so. What do you have for capital?"

Ian produces a chit. The old man puts his hand over it. "Not much on there."

"How… never mind. I'm sorry it's all I have. We can try to get you more somewhere else." Ian begs.

The old man laughs, "No, no, you misunderstand me. I'm just wondering what you have to survive with. I'll give you the ride." He changes the subject. "Where are you going?"

"Corellia." Says Ian

"Corellia, the ship planet?" Dodge asks.

"Yes, you see, I'm Ian Bartholomew and…" The old man cuts him off.

"…Dr. Ian Bartholomew?" Dodge asks.

"Um… well." He looks at Exit. "Yes."

"Man have I been hearing about you. I fly one of the ships you designed." Says Dodge.

"You do?" Asks Ian.

Dodge takes them to where his ship is sitting. Ian is surprised to see that the ship looks a fright. The old man assures them that the ship is sound it just looks bad. He has a little pal, a space pet species. He tells them that it's good for business and ushers them aboard. Exit asks Ian about it, she can't believe that Ian would design such a thing. Ian explains that it surely looked better at one time but that the ship was definitely something that he designed. Dodge sits down in the pilot's seat, Shinti, a small dog like creature, jumps in the co-pilots seat next to him and they take off. As their lifting off Shinti is all excited.

"Yes Shinti, we're going for a ride again." Says Dodge as he pilots the ship into space.

Exit is looking around, "There are no windows, how do you see where you're going?"

"Instruments, don't need windows." Says Dodge.

Ian understands how the ship works. The ship aptly named the "Black Sun," a Trident Interceptor. Ian understands this ship because it was one he designed while at the Academy. Alderaan security acquired six of them. All Trident Interceptor's were Instrument piloted. It was designed to keep pilots from freaking out when approached by enemy ships. They were deadly and well weaponised. But the Alderaan Security was not well trained in Instrument flying and all six were eventually destroyed. The Academy built more when they thought the ship would be successful. Dodge obviously thought they were worth something. Or… when he bought it he got a good deal. Ian is wondering the whole time, how it was that they would get to the planet surface undetected. Ian accesses a computer panel to see if he could find any information about someone rebelling on Corellia. But when he looked, all there was, was propaganda by the Empire telling of how great they were at governing. They had covered all the basis, even the ones Ian knew about that were secret. He finally polls the old man on the subject of detection. When Ian gets up and straps himself back in his seat, Dodge accesses his own computer to see what Ian was looking for. The old man had explained that the ship had a cloaking system. Ian had forgotten that, when you've designed and built as many ships as Ian had, you're bound to forget something. They would coast in with the engines off. He would then jettison them in an escape pod. The pod would be detected and Dodge would have to get out of Dodge quickly. The escape pod would land fairly quickly, Ian and Exit would have just enough time to escape and hide in the woods and the piles of junk. Ian goes back to sleep, he is awakened by the old man telling him that they were near the planet. He'd already cut the engines and engaged the cloaking system. Ian and Exit gathered a few things and entered the escape pod, Dodge jettisons them out. When Ian accesses a small monitor to see behind them, Dodge is already gone. Parachutes slow their decent, they land, pop the hatch to the pod and dash off into the woods. When they get far enough away Ian and Exit hide behind some old junk. An Imperial search party shows up shortly. Ian can hear one of the officers with some sort of device indicating that a human and a droid were in it but were gone and there was no trace of them. Ian and Exit move on cautiously, at one point, Exit with her droid hearing says that she's heard something in the vegetation around them. Before long, Ian can hear it also, it's coming closer. Ian and Exit try to hide but they're not successful. Fortunately the sound they heard was the little natives that helped them escape from Corellia the first time. Ian remembers how they were able to move so fast that they could only be seen when they wanted to. Ian and Exit, being welcomed to their village were met as usual by the native children, same smelly, dirty kids that Renn had told them about earlier, they stayed there awhile. Exit didn't need to eat. Ian ate some food they offered that even Frax with his strange appetite wouldn't eat. Ian ate it hesitantly and being the honorable man that he was, acted as though he was enjoying it even though he really didn't. The natives laughed at him knowing that he really didn't like the food but they weren't offended. They were, over a time able to establish a way to communicate. One thing Ian learned was how much the natives hated the Empire. That at one time, they were able to live in peace with the other residents of Corellia but when the Empire showed up, they were considered a virus, the Empire formed hunting parties, hunted them down and killed them. Ian, unable to sleep one night postulated that there might be enough of the little natives to form a rebellion. When he proposed the idea to the chief the next day, the Chief pooh-poohed the idea. The Empire was huge, there weren't enough warriors in his village to initiate such a coup. Ian was able to establish through their minimal communication that the chief was referring to the fact that there might be other natives that could join forces. He went back to the chief and asked if there were for sure? The chief answered in the affirmative. Ian then wondered how they communicated so he asked. The chief, unable to explain, put certain vegetation together, squeezed some different juices into what appeared to be a melon half. He then stirred the concoction vigorously, dunked the other half of the melon in the liquid then put it up to his ear. He handed it to Ian. Ian reluctantly held it up to his ear. He could hear voices. The chief then explained that what Ian was hearing was people from another tribe. Ian wasn't sure he understood right but if he did, what these people had invented was unheard of around the galaxy. Ian wanted to know how they let the other tribe know they were trying to communicate. The chief went and picked another strange weed from the vegetation around them. He lit it on fire and wafted the smoke in Ian's direction. The smell of the smoke was overwhelming. It was so powerful that he had to plug his nose and it still seemed to permeate that air, there was no escaping it. The chief then proposed that they wait a couple of days and listen for the others to communicate back. What was on the other side, that the other natives could hear Ian wondered? The chief pulled a fresh melon from one of the nearby trees. The melon itself acted as a transmitter. The liquid was the receiver. Ian proposed that the chief get the other tribes involved with the coup. The chief had to think about this but eventually agreed. The next day they would begin the process of communicating with the other tribes to form a coup against the Empire. Ian was thrilled, during the coup he and Exit would be able to slip in and steal one of the shuttles and travel back to Magus for more inventions and ideas. When he told Exit about his idea, she wasn't as happy about it. She told him that some of the natives would most likely die. Ian hadn't thought of that. He then mentioned this to the chief. The chief then communicated that if death was what it took to be rid of the Empire, the warrior would commit to it. The tribe began to prepare for the up and coming battle. Exit still wasn't convinced, the Empire was strong and the natives weapons were no match for the modern weaponry of the Empire.

Frax is coming to his home world in the Solari. He's just outside of the planet and he can see it on the monitor with its impenetrable red haze. He puts the ship in static mode and waits for the Large Magusian ship to come around. Before long it does, Frax mumbles something to the ship in his language and the ship, somehow, broadcasts the message that he is about to land and needs a cube. The ship confirms that the message is sent. He pilots the ship into the vent area where Ian went in. A cube shows up but Frax is confused, he doesn't know how the ship he's in will fit into the cube. The main door to the cube opens and unbeknownst to Frax, his ship starts for the opening. He orders the ship to stop. It stops, he then asks the ship how it is planning on entering the tube. The ship answers back…

"Prone."

Prone he wonders, what does that mean? The ship starts to move forward again. Frax wasn't ready for the ship to move and has to stabilize himself. He looks around… the ship begins to slant to the right. Frax isn't sure about this but straps himself in. When the Solari is lying completely on its right side, it proceeds into the cube. Not a scratch, the main door to the cube closes, Frax waits a second still sitting where he was but sideways now, there's no gravity is space so this is not a problem for Frax. In the next second he sees a bright light. When the light dissipates, the main door to the cube opens and Frax is on the surface of Magus. Several people are around including the group that gave he and Renn permission to leave the planet. The Solari, using its landing repulsers, exits the cube, rights itself and lands gently on the ground. The door of the Solari opens and Frax steps out. His fellow Magusian's meet him all glad to see him. But they wonder where Renn is. Frax has to explain that Renn was killed during a battle on Corellia. They move to a meeting hall in the city near where Frax lives, he explains more of what happened. One of the Magusian officials brings up Frax' ship. Frax tells them that even Dr. Bartholomew had never even seen one. That the planet where they got it said it was alive, so to speak. They all murmured at that. As Frax tells of his tails, Magusian's never lie, the officials are shocked. Frax tells them knowing that they are browbeating him, they warned him that something like that might happen. Frax goes on to assure them that all his military training came into play and he was able to escape. They looked satisfied but Frax wasn't sure they really were. A couple of days later, the great ship sent a communicator that some strange ships had entered their sector of space. Frax asked him what the ships looked like. He said they were large, grey and triangular. Frax knew what that meant, he'd been followed by the Empire. They'd sent Star Destroyers to the area. That same day, later in the afternoon loud explosions began to ring out in the red haze above. The Magusian officials sent a messenger up to the great ship to see what was going on. When the messenger returned he told them that the Imperial ships were firing on the red haze in an attempt to open it up make the planet surface accessible. Frax was certain that they would then send Tie Fighters to do the dirty work. Magus had weapons but they had never needed to put them together with the ships they built. With exception to fighting with small arms they were defenseless. The pounding explosions were loud and relentless. The great ship had halted out of view from the Imperial ships though even with the Empires most powerful weapons, they were miniscule compared to the Magusian ship. Unfortunately, the large Magusian ship had no weapons. Eventually the Empire made a hole in the red haze. The Magusian's prepared for a war that was sure to end in their slaughter. Frax, being the military man that he was, joined the ranks to help if he could. He was next to the Solari when it started up. Frax looked over at it. There was no one around it, how was it that it was activated? The Solari then took off headed for the opening in the haze. Frax and some others watched it leave. Officials came to Frax thinking that he was going to try to use the little ship to defend them. But when they got to his position, he was still there. They asked Frax who was flying the ship. Frax told them, no-one.

Ian and Exit were very surprised when warriors from the other tribes showed up. The smell from the masses of stink-weed that they burned to alert the other tribes was still in the air. If that didn't discourage the Empire in and of itself, he would not be surprised. The other warriors had skirted the Empire as not to alert them. A plan would be devised. Ian was in on it and was very effective in designing weapons from the natural vegetation. The chief's were impressed and they had a few tricks of their own. But the main focus would be drawing the Imperials out so that the speedy warriors could zoom in and cut them down before they knew what was happening. There must have been over five-hundred warriors that joined the present tribe. The chief of their tribe wanted to know what Ian and Exit would be doing during all of this? Ian had to explain that he and Exit would be trying to steal a ship. The chief was not impressed, he thought that the two should be joining the ranks in the battle. Ian then explained that if he were able to obtain a good enough ship, that he would be able to obtain great weapons to clean the Empire off other planets who'd suffered the same fate. The chief thought about it, then agreed. Ranks were formed as best they could be with the disorder of the natives. They would march to a location where the first Empire manned facility was. Then, when they were close, several people were set to go out and act in a way that would bring Imperial ground troops outside. They would then attack the ground troops. Ian interjected during the planning that the Empires communications would have to be taken out if they were to be able to attack the next facility unimpeded by an attack from the air. But the Empires communications were the least of their problems. The masses of tribal forces were detected by Imperial ships in space. The Empire would be ready for them. At first, some of the Imperial ground forces were set out. The native warriors were able to attack and kill most of them. Ian knew something was wrong. The amount of Imperial ground troops wasn't near the amount that he had hoped for. He looked up, in his mind he knew that the ships in space must have alerted the forces in the facility to their advances. Ian tried to tell the chief that they were in danger of being attacked from the air. The chief ignored Ian's advice and ordered the attack to continue. He ordered more gofers to try to coax more ground troops out. But when the gofers went out again, no one else came. Before long Tie Fighters came in from the air and began strafing the area where the native forces were. All hell broke loose. The native warriors scattered, some were killed during the first strafing run. Some of the warriors came out from the piles of junk and attempted to attack the facility. Gunners from positions in the facility fired down on them killing them off easily. The few that lived, scattered back into the piles of Corellian ship yard waste. The Tie Fighters are coming around again, there are only four of them. They strafe the area again killing more of the natives. Many of the natives use their sensational speed to evade the Imperial onslaught. Just about the time the Tie fighters come around for a third strafing run one of them explodes. The other three scatter taking evasive maneuvers. Alliance fighters come racing in, some Jedi, some rebel soldiers. More Tie Fighters enter the planet's atmosphere. The Alliance ships disband and go after the Tie Fighters. Many of the Native warriors come back, newly invigorated, they begin attacking ground troops. More Imperial ships enter the space around Corellia. Alliance ships, large and small join the battle.

There are four Star Destroyers in the space around Magus. They are trying to widen the space in the red haze by continuing to pound it with laser cannons. A small group of Tie Fighters and Sith Fighter ships leave the one of the Star Destroyers but they don't see the Solari come up through the hole, it fires on the small fighter ships. Before long the Solari destroys the Tie Fighters, the Sith are another story. The empty Solari is more agile than the Sith ships. They fly around firing on the Solari but either it evades the shots or its advanced shields keep the laser bolts from hitting the fuselage. It whips around, and fires on the Sith. They evade it for awhile but they tire. The Solari has them, it fires on one destroying it. It seems to know just where to hit them, disabling their shields and then destroying them. One Sith ship down. It swings around and fires again. Two Sith ships down. It disappears behind a Star Destroyer. The gunners on the Star Destroyer have lost it as well. Radar specialists track it but can't fire on their own ships. The last two Sith try to trap it when it comes around the underside of the Star Destroyer. They track the Solari to the underside of one of the Star Destroyers. The Sith wait for it. In the mean time, it disappears from the radar. They wonder what happened to it. Actually it blew open the bay doors of the Imperial Ship and entered her. The radar experts watch their screens. The Solari re-appears after a few moments. They inform the Sith ships and direct their attacks. What no one knows is that while inside one of the Star Destroyers, it took out some of the main reactors and ditched. The Star Destroyer explodes taking out the two Sith in its fiery wake. Before anyone can find it again, it blows open the bay doors on another Star Destroyer. Inside, Imperial solders and Storm Troopers fire on it. Its shields are impervious to small arms fire. It turns and fires on the solders and Storm Troopers killing them instantly. More gun fire from behind it. It turns and fires taking out another position. It immediately takes off blowing through bulkheads until it reaches important parts of the ship. It fires causing havoc in the reactor section. It blows its way out of the bottom of the Star Destroyer. It gets far enough away that when the second Star Destroyer explodes, no harm comes to it. The third and fourth Star Destroyers have taken up positions where they can fire on the small ship. The Solari can't decide which one to fight first. The Star Destroyers begin firing on it. It targets weapons on each Imperial ship, taking out some of the weapons one at a time. Then it turns and fires on the other taking out gunner positions. The other Star Destroyer gets organized and fires on it again. On the surface of the planet, the Magusian's have gotten together and activated one of their huge weapons. They fire one burst through the opening in the haze. The laser bolt hits the underside of one of the two Star Destroyers. The Star Destroyer splits, then explodes. The Solari turns and fires on the last Star Destroyer. It takes out several of its weapons but the Star Destroyer endures and eventually prevails. It destroys the Solari. But just as the Imperialists think they're safe, the huge Magusian ship comes in. The officials on the Star Destroyer see it coming, it's as if a planet were descending on them. It rams the Star Destroyer wrecking it like a side-swiped car. The Imperial ship crumples and explodes leaving only a black spot on the giant ship. The militia on the surface don their other ships most of which are prototypes. They're not armed but they will be by the time they get to Corellia. Frax rallies all of them to him and they head off to Corellia.

On Corellia Ian and Exit are able to enter one of the facilities. It's pandemonium so no one really notices the two rebels making their way through the labyrinth of buildings. Ian knows exactly where the Shuttles are but they are quite a distance from their current position. Ian tells Exit that he's trying to think of a way for them to get to the Shuttle manufacturing facility faster. There are turbo lifts but they will be monitored so Ian won't be able to use them and accessing one would surely give them away. Outside most of the Imperial ground troops have been killed or have moved inside protected by the facility gunners. The small natives have to retreat back into the masses of junk in order to hide and regroup. Several of the Sith ships have landed, taken to foot pursuit and mean to go after the natives. This gets noticed by the Rebels and several Rebel forces and Jedi land to counter the Sith intrusion. Before long, Imperial soldiers and Storm Troopers from the ships in space are on the ground also. It's all out war between the Rebels and the Empire. Some of the facilities on Corellia get damaged, some even destroyed. Imperial ground attack vehicles are sent in and dropped off to join the battle. Ian and Exit find an abandoned inter-facility transport but it's broken down for some reason. Ian tries to fix it but that's when Imperial officials catch them. One of the officials notices Ian from the day they met him in his apartment where he escaped. There are about twenty of them with weapons pointed at Ian and Exit. Ian and Exit have to desist and raise their hands.

The official walks up to Ian. "I remember you. We met at your apartment one day. You escaped into the ventilation system as I remember."

Ian, still holding his hands in the air, squints trying to remember the man.

"You don't remember me do you?" The officer asks Ian.

Ian is still looking at him but is having trouble remembering not to mention the fact that being at gun point doesn't help his nerves any.

"I'm Commander **Leo Mantisa** , remember, I'm the one who originated the plans for the space station."

"Oh, yes, I remember you now." Ian says nervously.

"I saw some of the blueprints that you made up for the space station, they were… quite interesting." Says the commander.

"Oh, thank you… I think." Says Ian.

"Dr. why did you run, we had not threatened you in any way?" He orders one of the other officers with him to call Darth Sidious and let him know the Dr. has been captured while he waits for Ian to answer. The man gets on a comm.. and calls.

"I… I had other plans." Says Ian not knowing what else to say.

The commander looks at Exit. "Was she one of them?"

Ian sees that the commander is looking at Exit. "I… well… she…"

The commander, with a blaster pointed at her, shoots her. She drops to the floor having been damaged. Ian breaks down and tries to go to her.

"Dr. Bartholomew," She says in a broken voice as he holds her head in his arms crying, "You can make another one of me. Don't worry, I don't feel anything."

Ian looks up at the man, he looks down at Exit then up at the man again. His face grimaces and he aggresses the commander. Another one of the officers with the commander knocks Ian out with the butt of his blaster. Ian is out cold.

"I hope you didn't kill him." Says the commander in a calm voice.

"He'll be ok." Says the other officer.

"Take them, throw her in one of the incinerators, lock him up somewhere. I don't care where. When Darth Sidious gets here, we'll cut him loose to the head man."

The other officers pick up Ian and Exit. The ones with Ian go one way, the others pick her up, one on each limb. They are going to take Exit to a nearby incinerator but she's heavy and they struggle to move her.

Darth Sidious has received the message but there are other Sith where he is. He's busy observing and coordinating the battle and sends the other two Sith to get Ian.

Yoda is near the situation in his own ship. He is with Senator Organa, they're together with other Rebel officers are planning what they are going to do once they reach Corellia. They are in the lead ship of a Rebel Armada, speeding on their way to join the battle on Corellia.

 **Darth Athala, Darth Obdris** are the two Sith that Darth Sidious has sent to get Ian. On their way they're met by a Jedi by the name of **Kiber Storm.**

From a covert position we spy the four Imperial officers carrying Exit. The officers take her into one of the manufacturing facilities which is in full use but because of the mayhem around them, are beginning to cease operations. All the machines are working and all the Corellian workers are manning them but are, one at a time beginning to shut them down and the workers, concerned for their own lives, begin to look around wondering what to do. The room is still active and loud. The men carrying Exit stop, one of the Imperial officers sets his part of her down and asks with all the noise, where the nearest incinerator is. The Corellian worker says something but the noise drowns him out but he points. The officer acknowledges him, picks up his part of Exit and they continue to drag her toward the incinerator. The spy is watching the whole thing although no one around him seems to be paying any attention to him. Probably because he's using his Jedi powers to distract their attention. The Imperial officers enlist the help of some of the workers to assist them in hauling Exit up some metal stairs to an incinerator. They finally reach it, one of the workers opens the door. Furious fire heats the area around the opening causing all of them to wince from the hot air. One of the Imperial officers instructs the rest of them, over the noise, to throw her in. One of the workers protests, he can see that she's still active. They argue a little, finally the leading officer picks her up, the other Imperial officers jump in to assist. They are about to toss her in when the Jedi spy jumps out, Light Saber ignited. It's Dodge. Over the noise which dies down now that he's in the room and not controlling people's minds. The rest workers shut down their machines to see what's going on.

"I know her." He says.

One of the officers drops her and tries to go for his blaster. Dodge may be old but he's just as fast as ever, he cuts the four officers down with a few swipes of his weapon. He cradles Exits head in his arms. "Young woman, where is Dr. Bartholomew?"

In a broken voice, "They've… taken him… I… I don't… know… where."

Dodge scoops her up and heads out of the plant. Some of the workers cheer and all make way for him.

Kiber and the two Sith are in battle with Light Sabers. Kiber is holding his own but the two Sith are seasoned warriors. Kiber is a no nonsense kind of guy, he takes everything seriously. His skill with the Light Saber is unprecedented. The two Sith are good even as individuals but they have their hands full with Kiber. If one of them gets cut down, Kiber will end the other. Some of the Imperial soldiers and officers in the area see what's going on and begin to move in the direction of the Sith/Jedi battle hoping to turn things in favor of the Sith. Several of them begin to point their blasters hoping to get a shot off. They close in on the battle, one fires but misses. Kiber is aware of the other imperial presents but doesn't dare take his focus off of the two Sith. He battles on, another one of the imperial soldiers fires. Kiber is able to refocus his attention for a split second to deflect the blaster shot away. More fire, Kiber has to hide behind something in order to avoid the shots and the Sith. The two Sith work quickly to get to him. The Imperial soldiers move closer, more firing as they close in. Dodge comes out of nowhere. He begins to cuts down the Imperial troops allowing Kiber to get back into the fight. Outside, some of the Rebels are warring with imperial ground troops. As if something invisible has come in to help, the Imperial soldiers begin to fall. Storm Troopers stop firing and look around wondering what's happening. Before long, more begin to fall, blood comes from the wounds of the fallen. Rebel soldiers take advantage of the confusion and come out from behind protective cover to take clean shots at the other Imperials.

Kiber sees what's happening and tries to one up the two Sith. They haven't let what's happening behind them distract their attention. Kiber has all he can do to fend off the two Dark Side rejects. Dodge is now being fired upon by some of the Imperials around but gets his bearings enough to begin deflecting some of the blaster shots back at the ones who fired them cutting them down.

Outside, the Imperial ground vehicles begin to assist the ground troops in fighting off some of the enemy. The natives are good and quick but can't do anything against the armored vehicles which are well armed.

In the air the battle goes on as well, some Tie fighters chasing and firing on Rebel ships and some Rebel ships chasing and firing on Tie Fighters. A Rebel ship flies by with two Tie Fighters in tow. He's trying to out-fly them but they keep on him. He mistakenly clips one of the elevator towers extending into a space building facility. The tower is destroyed where the ship hit it. It, in turn, spins the Rebel Ship around, sending him crashing into another elevator tower under construction. The tower under construction collapses and the Rebel ship bursts into a fire ball and plummets to the ground. The two Tie Fighters look for another battle to join. The Tie fighters outnumber the rebel ships three to one. The Rebel ships are slowly losing ground.

In space Rebel Alliance ships, large and small begin to drop out of light speed firing as they come. More of the Rebel fighters come out of bays on the larger ships and head toward the planet surface.

Dodge has cut down most of the Imperials allowing Kiber to focus all his attention on the two Sith. Dodge jumps in and pulls one of the Sith out of the battle with Kiber. Now the Sith fighting Kiber realizes he's in trouble. Dodge battles his Sith, the two Light Sabers humming and crackling as they whisk through the air and connect. Dodge drives his opponent back. He's older and tired and doesn't have the patients to drag the fight out. He and the Sith clash Sabers but when Dodge sees an opportunity, he runs his opponent through. The Sith stands looking at him with pain and defeat in his eyes just before he falls dead. More Imperials come in and Dodge must deflect more blaster shots. Kiber, driving his Sith back, finally cuts off one arm, then the other, then his head. What's left of the Sith body drops to the floor lifeless and dead, the head rolling away. Dodge has run off the Imperials for the time being. Kiber scoops Exit off the floor and asks Dodge where he's headed. Dodge leads the way.

Now, in the air above the planet, increased Rebel fighters keep the Tie Fighters busy while others begin firing on the heavily iron protected ground vehicles. Some of the ground vehicles begin firing on the Rebel ships but can't hit anything in the air with accuracy. In space large Rebel ships combat Imperial Star Destroyers. Again, the Star Destroyer shields holding up much better than the rebel ones. Smaller rebel ships and Tie fighters face off against one another, the Tie fighters seem to be fairing the worst though agile in space none-the-less and difficult to hit.

Dodge, at the instruction of a damaged Exit, finally brings the three to where they were holding Ian. A short scuffle with Corellian and Imperial guards ensues. But Dodge and Kiber prevail without so much as a stray shot in their direction. Ian is ok and thrilled to see that Dodge has returned for them. Ian is behind a ray shield. He instructs Dodge on how to deactivate the ray shield holding Ian in. Ian picks up the blaster from one of the dead guards and they're off and running again. They start for an exit but Ian stops them. He came for an Imperial shuttle and with his new help, he would get one. Along the way, the four are met with some resistance but most of the battle was going on outside or in space. Ian was right in there shooting with the other two. There were some of the Corellian workers running around, most looking for cover hoping to avoid the situation outside. Kiber and Dodge have to stop a couple of times and rescue some of the workers from Imperial soldiers holding them at gunpoint as to continue their work once the Empire had won the battle. The four come upon a manufacturing staging area and all in doors. Ships as far as the eye could see sitting and waiting for the Empire or Rebels to purchase them. They jump in a small transport and begin looking for the infamous shuttle. Kiber drives, Exit lays across one of the seats. Ian is looking at her with some concern on his face. Dodge notices but tells Ian she'll be ok until they can get into a ship and away from the fighting. Ian explains that she will need parts. Along the way they find a parts station and stop. They hear the fighting going on outside. Suddenly a huge explosion blows open one of the walls near the parts station. The battle comes inside and it's bad. Several Imperial ground vehicles come in with warring ground troops from both sides as well. The battle is fierce. One of the ground vehicles comes toward the parts station. Weapons are armed and pointed. Ian, Kiber and Dodge stop what they're doing, drop their weapons, Light Sabers and all, and put up their hands. A hatch opens on the vehicle and a set of steps comes out with a machine noise. Count Dooku comes out followed by several Storm Troopers. Dodge thinks they're safe for the moment but it isn't long before Count Dooku makes it clear that he is no longer with the good guys.

"Dodge, it has been a long time." Says Count Dooku.

"Count, good to see another Jedi here." Say Dodge suspiciously.

"I'm sorry old friend but my allegiance is now with the Empire." Says Dooku.

"I wondered when you didn't tell your minions to lower their weapons." Says Dodge.

"Dooku, we wondered what happened to you." Says Kiber.

"Kiber Storm, Yoda holds you in high regard. You are most likely set to be summoned to the Jedi council. Unfortunately, I'm afraid you will be dead before that happens" Says Dooku.

"That why you became a trader Dooku?" Kiber asks.

"Trader… no my friend, not a trader, I was always with the Empire." Says Dooku.

"So, are you an Ex-Jedi or a Sith?" Dodge asks.

"Let me put it to you this way, my real name is Lord Tyrannus." Says Dooku.

"That explains a lot." Says Dodge.

"It does?" Asks Kiber as he looks at Dodge funny.

"I would like to keep this conversation going but we really do need to get moving. The battle is still going on around us and we need to move out of its way. Darth Sidious will be glad to know that I have you and will want to know soon." Says Dooku. He makes an ushering gesture with his hand. "Please… all of you, get on board. Leave the droid girl, we won't be needing her."

Ian gets mad. Count Dooku knows of their relationship and knows that he'll piss Ian off if they leave her behind and that's all he wants to do, is mess with Ian. The battle does rage on around them. The Storm Troopers begin to usher the three at rifle point onto the vehicle. A group of Corellian soldiers and a Corellian leader begin to fire on the Storm Troopers ushering our hero's in. They cut down the Storm Troopers, Dooku gets away. The vehicle begins firing and moves out of the building. Dodge and Kiber pick up their Light Sabers. Ian picks up his rifle.

The new group, Carth Dettun and he's showed up just in time. Ian recognizes him and doesn't trust him but plays along just in case.

"Carth." Says Ian.

"Dr. Bartholomew, we thought we'd lost you." Says Carth. "Are you ok?"

Ian looks over Carth's shoulder. "Well I'll be."

Dodge turns around to see what Ian is looking at. Behind them, lines of just built Shuttles.

"One of those?" Dodge asks.

"That's what I'm looking for." Says Ian.

"Perfect," Says Carth, "you designed those Dr. It's only right that you should have one."

Ian looks at him like "I'd have taken one anyway."

All the doors are open, and the ramps extended in front. Ian picks up Exit, shoulders his bag of parts and they all run on board including Carth and his Corellian henchmen.

Outside the battle is raging. The Shuttle is piloted out of the hole made by the explosion and begins to head off to space. They immediately send a signal to the Rebels that there are friendly's on board this one. The Empire, of course, doesn't get the signal. "We're all on big happy family." Ian thinks as he locks on several of the Imperial ground vehicles and fires. The Imperial ground vehicles all get several huge laser pulses blowing them into little pieces. By the time some of the Tie Fighters catch on, Ian has locked on to several of them, he fires, destroying them and giving the Rebel forces a much needed break in the action. The Shuttle heads to outer space. Once in space Ian sees that the Alliance also needs help. Dodge and Kiber both run to the helm urging Ian to engage the Imperial Tie Fighters. Ian gets a lock on several of them and fires turning them into fire balls that disintegrate as they move.

Unfortunately, the larger Star Destroyers also get a wiff of what's happening and fire on the shuttle. The shuttle has superior shields but can't hold up too long to the major pounding of the weapons on the Star Destroyers. Ian tries to steer the Shuttle clear of the Star destroyers but there are too many of them. No matter where he goes, the Shuttle gets pounded. Kiber tells him that their shields are losing strength. Ian is able to fire a few shots at the Star Destroyers, he completely obliterates any Tie Fighters that he fires at but the Star Destroyers are still having an effect. Ian asks Kiber to take over. Ian goes and sits next to Carth and his soldiers.

"Man am I glad you came along." Says Ian as he begins to work on repairing Exit.

Explosions rattle the Shuttle. "Dr. Bartholomew, we can't lose you. You're too important to Corellia. To be honest, I was afraid that we'd lose too much capital without you there. No offence." Says Carth.

Ian looks up smiling while he continues to work on Exit. "None taken. I'm glad I'm so valuable."

Carth nods at one of his soldiers. The soldier unbuckles himself, picks up his rifle and fires at the counsel in front of Kiber, then fires at Kiber knocking him down. Dodge pulls his Light Saber and deflects shots at him. He dives in front of Ian and deflects more shots at Ian. Ian sees Carth going for his blaster, grabs the end of it and points it away from everyone. The Shuttle is down and adrift in space. Carth tries to wrestle the blaster away from Ian but Ian is too strong. Ian stands up, still holding the end of the blaster, he hauls Carth off the ground. Carth lets go of the blaster but before he can do anything else, Ian throws a smashing right hook into Carth's face knocking him almost clean out. Dodge mops up the other soldiers and they're safe once again. But now they have no shields or weapons and are adrift in space. Ian runs to the helm window. Dodge checks Kiber to see if he's ok. Kiber is barely alive. Ian sees that a Star Destroyer is right in front of them and closing.

"Oh shit." Says Ian.

Dodge looks up. He sees the Star Destroyer bearing down on them. "We're dead."

"We…" Ian is about to say something when he sees something else out the front window of the Shuttle. The huge Magusian ship that was in orbit around Magus is coming at the Star Destroyer. It side swipes the Star Destroyer causing it to explode. More of the Magusian prototypes come in firing. Huge weapons fire from the Copious. The weapons are so powerful that they destroy the Star Destroyers with one blast. The Copious has dared to leave the security of the Magus home world to help Ian and exact revenge for his father's death.

The Empire is losing its butt with the Rebels bearing down on one side and the Magusian's on the other. They have to turn tail and run.

Inside the Shuttle, Exit is coming around. She still needs repairs but Ian has fixed her enough to where she can at least move some and talk again. Kiber is badly injured. They dock with one of the large Rebel ships. Kiber is rushed to a medical frigate but the doctors assure everyone that he'll be ok. Yoda comes down with senator Organa and several Jedi in tow. Dodge looks up and sees Yoda.

"Yoda!" Dodge yells, the two embrace.

"A long time, it has been master Dodge." Says Yoda.

"Master Dodge, now that's a name I've not heard in a long time." Says Dodge.

Yoda introduces the Senator to Dodge. Dodge introduces Ian to Yoda. Yoda looks at Ian.

"Looking for you, we have been." Says Yoda.

"And… who are you?" Asks Ian

Dodge jumps in… "I'm sorry Ian, this is Master Yoda, he's the head of the Jedi council. He trained all of us."

"Trained you, but… you are…" Ian cuts off his own words for Dodge to finish. Yoda looks down in humility.

"…Eighty-six. Yoda is over Eight-hundred years old."

"Eight-hun…" Ian cuts off.

"That's not that old." Frax cuts in.

"Frax!" Ian runs over and hugs him. Frax hugs Ian back.

Frax walks up and joins the conversation.

"Who is this?" Yoda asks.

"Yes, who is this?" Dodge asks also.

"This is Frax, he's the one who led the charge of the prototype ships. The ones that came in…" Ian gets cut off.

"… And the day, saved you." Yoda finishes.

They all laugh.

That night on Coruscant, a huge bash is put on in celebration of the just won war. Much fanfare happens rewarding all those involved in the victory against the Empire.

Several days later back on Corellia, Ian is put in place of Carth as the supreme leader. Over the next couple of months, Ian puts Corellia back in shape. Manufacturing goes on but Corellia is for the moment, in better shape than it ever has been. A lot of the junk that was rusting around the facilities is being removed and recycled. Headquarters is getting a face lift, new elevator towers are being built to the facilities in space.

The natives have things a lot better and a group has been formed to indoctrinate them into the Corellian way of life. Nethers are getting better treatment and better housing and the Nether program is being revamped.

A huge meeting of the Corellian officials is taking place. The meeting hall is adorned with decorations of Celebration. All of the Corellian officials, Dodge, Kiber, Yoda, Senator Organa, Frax, Several other Magusian officials and officials from the Rebellion are in attendance. But where is Ian and Exit?

We cut to a little bar called SWEETS on the planet of Tatoinne. The locals imbibe, Exit serves tables and Ian tends bar. And in the back of the bar, behind a heavy metal door, a large cavernous room sits, barely lit, housing the Shuttle and several other experimental ships, most of which are in the process of being built.

In space the Resistance is met by more Imperial Star Destroyers and has to make a run for it. Yoda is not pleased.

"A way there must be, defeat the Empire we must." Says Yoda to Bail and other officials around him.

The End


End file.
